Method for transmitting and receiving downlink control information in wireless communication system supporting device-to-device communication and device for the same

ABSTRACT

A method for transmitting and receiving downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting device-to-device communication and a device for the same are disclosed. The method for receiving downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting D2D (Device-to-Device) communication includes: receiving, by a UE, downlink control information for D2D communication from an eNB; transmitting, by the UE to a reception UE, D2D communication control information on a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel) based on the downlink control information; and transmitting, by the UE to the reception UE, D2D communication data on a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel) based on the downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information may include: a hopping flag field indicating whether frequency hopping is applicable when transmitting the D2D communication control information and the D2D communication data; a PSCCH resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for the PSCCH; a first PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a frequency domain; a second PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a time domain; and a TPC (Transmission Power Control) field including transmission power information for the PSCCH and PSSCH.

This application is a National Phase Application of International Application No. PCT/KR2015/003098 filed Mar. 30, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/972,385 filed Mar. 30, 2014, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method for transmitting and receiving downlink control information related to D2D (Device-to-Device) communication in a wireless communication system supporting D2D communication, and a device supporting the same.

BACKGROUND ART

Mobile communication systems have been developed to provide voice services, while guaranteeing user activity. Service coverage of mobile communication systems, however, has extended even to data services, as well as voice services, and currently, an explosive increase in traffic has resulted in shortage of resource and user demand for a high speed services, requiring advanced mobile communication systems.

The requirements of the next-generation mobile communication system may include supporting huge data traffic, a remarkable increase in the transfer rate of each user, the accommodation of a significantly increased number of connection devices, very low end-to-end latency, and high energy efficiency. To this end, various techniques, such as small cell enhancement, dual connectivity, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), in-band full duplex, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), supporting super-wide band, and device networking, have been researched.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problems

There has been a difficulty in configuring downlink control information related to D2D communication in a single downlink control information format due to a large amount of control information, because both scheduling assignment and D2D direct communication data transmission that a D2D transmission UE send to a D2D reception UE need to be scheduled.

Moreover, transmitting downlink control information for scheduling assignment and D2D direct communication data transmissions each assumes a heavy signaling burden.

An object of the present invention proposes a method for transmitting and receiving downlink control information in order to schedule both scheduling assignment and D2D direct communication data that a D2D transmission UE send to a D2D reception UE.

It is to be understood that technical objects to be achieved by the present invention are not limited to the aforementioned technical objects and other technical objects which are not mentioned herein will be apparent from the following description to one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.

Technical Solution

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for receiving downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting D2D (Device-to-Device) communication includes: receiving, by a UE, downlink control information for D2D communication from an eNB; transmitting, by the UE to a reception UE, D2D communication control information on a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel) based on the downlink control information; and transmitting, by the UE to the reception UE, D2D communication data on a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel) based on the downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information may include: a hopping flag field indicating whether frequency hopping is applicable when transmitting the D2D communication control information and the D2D communication data; a PSCCH resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for the PSCCH; a first PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a frequency domain; a second PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a time domain; and a TPC (Transmission Power Control) field including transmission power information for the PSCCH and PSSCH.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a UE for receiving downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting D2D (Device-to-Device) communication includes: an RF (Radio Frequency) unit for transmitting and receiving radio signals; and a processor, the processor being configured to receive downlink control information for D2D communication from an eNB, to transmit D2D communication control information to a reception UE on a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel) based on the downlink control information, and to transmit D2D communication data to the reception UE on a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel) based on the downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information may include: a hopping flag field indicating whether frequency hopping is applicable when transmitting the D2D communication control information and the D2D communication data; a PSCCH resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for the PSCCH; a first PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a frequency domain; a second PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a time domain; and a TPC (Transmission Power Control) field including transmission power information for the PSCCH and PSSCH.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for transmitting downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting D2D (Device-to-Device) communication includes transmitting, by an eNB to a UE, downlink control information for D2D communication, wherein the downlink control information may include: a hopping flag field indicating whether frequency hopping is applicable when transmitting the D2D communication control information and the D2D communication data; a PSCCH resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for the PSCCH; a first PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a frequency domain; a second PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a time domain; and a TPC (Transmission Power Control) field including transmission power information for the PSCCH and PSSCH.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, an eNB for transmitting downlink control information in a wireless communication system supporting D2D (Device-to-Device) communication includes: an RF (Radio Frequency) unit for transmitting and receiving radio signals; and a processor, the processor being configured to allow the eNB to transmit downlink control information for D2D communication, wherein the downlink control information may include: a hopping flag field indicating whether frequency hopping is applicable when transmitting the D2D communication control information and the D2D communication data; a PSCCH resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for the PSCCH; a first PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a frequency domain; a second PSSCH RA field including scheduling information for the PSSCH in a time domain; and a TPC (Transmission Power Control) field including transmission power information for the PSCCH and PSSCH.

Preferably, the PSCCH RA field may include index information for deriving the positions of resource regions for PSCCH transmission.

Preferably, the first PSSCH RA field may include a Resource Indication Value (RIV) indicating a starting resource block index for PSSCH transmission and a length in terms of allocated resource blocks.

Preferably, the second PSSCH RA field may include information indicating a time resource pattern used for PSSCH transmission.

Preferably, the TPC field may comprise a first TPC field indicating the transmission power for PSCCH and a second TPC field indicating the transmission power for PSSCH.

Preferably, the downlink control information may further include an RX_ID field including identification information for the reception UE.

Preferably, the downlink control information may further include an MCS field indicating MCS (Modulation Coding and Scheme) information for PSCCH and/or PSSCH transmission.

Preferably, the PSCCH RA field may include information indicating a time resource pattern used for PSCCH transmission.

Preferably, the downlink control information may further include a DMRS CS field including DMRS (demodulation reference signal) CS (cyclic shift) information for demodulating the D2D communication control information and/or D2D communication data.

Advantageous Effects

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to smoothly transmit and receive downlink control information in order to schedule both a scheduling assignment and D2D direct communication data that a D2D transmission UE send to a D2D reception UE, by properly configuring the fields constituting the downlink control information.

It is to be understood that advantageous effects to be achieved by the present invention are not limited to the aforementioned advantageous effects and other advantageous effects which are not mentioned herein will be apparent from the following description to one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the network structure of E-UTRAN (evolved universal terrestrial radio access network) to which the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining physical channels used in a 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system to which the present invention may be applied and a typical signal transmission method using them.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a radio frame in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a resource grid for one downlink slot in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a downlink subframe in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of an uplink subframe in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the structure of DCI format 0 in a wireless communication system to which the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a form in which the PUCCH formats are mapped to the PUCCH region of the uplink physical resource block in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 9 shows the structure of a CQI channel in the case of a normal CP in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 10 shows the structure of an ACK/NACK channel in the case of a normal CP in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which 5 SC-FDMA symbols are generated and transmitted during one slot in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 12 shows an example of component carriers and a carrier aggregation in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the structure of a subframe according to cross-carrier scheduling in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 14 is a diagram conceptually illustrating D2D communication in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 15 shows an example of various scenarios of D2D communication to which a method proposed in this specification may be applied.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing another example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing yet another example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a method for configuring D2D control information depending on D2D transmission mode, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing relationship between SG reception and SA transmission in a D2D UE, which is proposed in this specification.

FIGS. 21 and 22 are a flowchart illustrating an example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing another example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which are proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing yet another example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing another example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which are proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing yet another example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 29 to 32 are diagrams showing examples of methods for providing notification of the locations of SA resources or D2D data resources or both, which are proposed according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission using RRC signaling, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission using a physical layer channel, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for performing an HARQ procedure for an SG, which is proposed in this specification.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a D2D operation procedure proposed in this specification and an example of a signaling transmission/reception method related thereto.

FIGS. 38 to 41 are flowcharts showing examples of a method for transmitting downlink control information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 42 to 50 are diagrams illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 51 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

MODE FOR INVENTION

Some embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. A detailed description to be disclosed along with the accompanying drawings are intended to describe some exemplary embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to describe a sole embodiment of the present invention. The following detailed description includes more details in order to provide full understanding of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may be implemented without such more details.

In some cases, in order to avoid that the concept of the present invention becomes vague, known structures and devices are omitted or may be shown in a block diagram form based on the core functions of each structure and device.

In this specification, a base station has the meaning of a terminal node of a network over which the base station directly communicates with a device. In this document, a specific operation that is described to be performed by a base station may be performed by an upper node of the base station according to circumstances. That is, it is evident that in a network including a plurality of network nodes including a base station, various operations performed for communication with a device may be performed by the base station or other network nodes other than the base station. The base station (BS) may be substituted with another term, such as a fixed station, a Node B, an eNB (evolved-NodeB), a Base Transceiver System (BTS), or an access point (AP). Furthermore, the device may be fixed or may have mobility and may be substituted with another term, such as User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a User Terminal (UT), a Mobile Subscriber Station (MSS), a Subscriber Station (SS), an Advanced Mobile Station (AMS), a Wireless Terminal (WT), a Machine-Type Communication (MTC) device, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device, or a Device-to-Device (D2D) device.

Hereinafter, downlink (DL) means communication from an eNB to UE, and uplink (UL) means communication from UE to an eNB. In DL, a transmitter may be part of an eNB, and a receiver may be part of UE. In UL, a transmitter may be part of UE, and a receiver may be part of an eNB.

Specific terms used in the following description have been provided to help understanding of the present invention, and the use of such specific terms may be changed in various forms without departing from the technical sprit of the present invention.

The following technologies may be used in a variety of wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA). CDMA may be implemented using a radio technology, such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be implemented using a radio technology, such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be implemented using a radio technology, such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is part of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) is part of an Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), and it adopts OFDMA in downlink and adopts SC-FDMA in uplink. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is the evolution of 3GPP LTE.

Embodiments of the present invention may be supported by the standard documents disclosed in at least one of IEEE 802, 3GPP, and 3GPP2, that is, radio access systems. That is, steps or portions that belong to the embodiments of the present invention and that are not described in order to clearly expose the technical spirit of the present invention may be supported by the documents. Furthermore, all terms disclosed in this document may be described by the standard documents.

In order to more clarify a description, 3GPP LTE/LTE-A is chiefly described, but the technical characteristics of the present invention are not limited thereto.

System in General

FIG. 1 shows an example of the network structure of E-UTRAN (evolved universal terrestrial radio access network) to which the present invention may be applied.

An E-UTRAN system is an advanced version of the existing UTRAN system, and may be a 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system, for example. E-UTRAN consists of eNBs that provide a control plane protocol and a user plane protocol to UEs, and the eNBs are connected via the X2 interface. The X2 user plane interface X2-U is defined between the eNBs. The X2-U interface provides non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs (packet data units). The X2 control plane interface X2-CP is defined between two neighbor eNBs. The X2-CP performs the following functions: context transfer between eNBs, control of user plane tunnels between a source eNB and a target eNB, transfer of handover-related messages, uplink load management and the like. An eNB is connected to user equipment UE through a radio interface and is connected to an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) through the S1 interface. The S1 user plane interface (S1-U) is defined between the eNB and the serving gateway (S-GW). The SI control plane interface (S1-MME) is defined between the eNB and the MME (Mobility Management Entity). The S1 interface performs the following functions: EPS (Enhanced Packet System) Bearer Service Management function, NAS (Non-Access Stratum) Signaling Transport function, Network Sharing Function, MME Load balancing Function and the like. The S1 interface supports many-to-many relations between eNBs and MMEs/S-GWs.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining physical channels used in a 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system to which the present invention may be applied and a typical signal transmission method using them.

When a UE is powered on from off or enters a new cell, the UE performs an initial cell search such as synchronization with an eNB (S201). To this end, the UE receives a primary synchronization channel (P-SCH) and a secondary synchronization channel (S-SCH) from the eNB to synchronization with the eNB and acquire information such as a cell ID (identifier).

Thereafter, the UE may acquire broadcast information within the cell by receiving a physical broadcast channel from the eNB. In the initial cell search step, the UE may monitor a downlink channel state by receiving downlink reference signals (DL RS).

Upon completion of the initial cell search procedure, the UE may acquire more detailed system information by receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) based on PDCCH information.

Afterwards, the UE may perform a random access procedure (S203 to S206) to complete the connection to the eNB. To this end, the UE may transmit a preamble through a physical random access channel (PRACH) (S203) and receive a response message to the preamble through the PDCCH and the PDSCH corresponding to the PDCCH (S204). In the case of contention-based random access, the UE may perform a contention resolution procedure such as transmission (S205) of an additional PRACH signal and reception (S206) of a PDCCH signal and a PDSCH signal corresponding to the PDCCH signal.

After performing the above-described procedures, the UE may receive a PDCCH signal and/or a PDSCH signal (S207), as a general uplink/downlink signal transmission procedure, and may then receive a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal and/or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal (S208).

Control information the UE sends to the eNB is collectively referred to as uplink control information (UCI). The UCI includes HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Retransmit reQuest)-ACK (Acknowledge)/NACK (Non-Acknowledge), SR (Scheduling Request), CQI (Channel Quality Indicator), PMI (Precoding Matrix Indicator), RI (Rank Indication), etc.

In an LTE/LTE-A system, the UCI is generally carried on the PUCCH. However, when control information and traffic data are to be transmitted simultaneously, the UCI may also be carried on the PUSCH. Additionally, the UCI may be aperiodically carried on the PUSCH according to a request/indication from the network.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a radio frame in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

3GPP LTE/LTE-A support a radio frame structure type 1 which may be applicable to Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and a radio frame structure which may be applicable to Time Division Duplex (TDD).

FIG. 3(a) illustrates the radio frame structure type 1. A radio frame consists of 10 subframes. One subframe consists of 2 slots in a time domain. The time taken to send one subframe is called a Transmission Time Interval (TTI). For example, one subframe may have a length of 1 ms, and one slot may have a length of 0.5 ms.

One slot includes a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain and includes a plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) in a frequency domain. In 3GPP LTE, OFDM symbols are used to represent one symbol period because OFDMA is used in downlink. An OFDM symbol may be called one SC-FDMA symbol or symbol period. An RB is a resource allocation unit and includes a plurality of contiguous subcarriers in one slot.

FIG. 3(b) illustrates the frame structure type 2. The radio frame structure type 2 consists of 2 half frames. Each of the half frames consists of 5 subframes, a Downlink Pilot Time Slot (DwPTS), a Guard Period (GP), and an Uplink Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS). One subframe consists of 2 slots. The DwPTS is used for initial cell search, synchronization, or channel estimation in UE. The UpPTS is used for channel estimation in an eNB and to perform uplink transmission synchronization with UE. The guard period is an interval in which interference generated in uplink due to the multi-path delay of a downlink signal between uplink and downlink is removed.

In the frame structure type 2 of a TDD system, an uplink-downlink configuration is a rule indicating whether uplink and downlink are allocated (or reserved) to all subframes. Table 1 shows the uplink-downlink configuration.

TABLE 1 Downlink- Uplink- to-Uplink Downlink Switch-point Subframe number configuration periodicity 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0  5 ms D S U U U D S U U U 1  5 ms D S U U D D S U U D 2  5 ms D S U D D D S U D D 3 10 ms D S U U U D D D D D 4 10 ms D S U U D D D D D D 5 10 ms D S U D D D D D D D 6  5 ms D S U U U D S U U D

Referring to Table 1, in each subframe of the radio frame, “D” is indicative of a subframe for downlink transmission, “U” is indicative of a subframe for uplink transmission, and “S” is indicative of a special subframe including three types of a DwPTS, GP, and UpPTS. An uplink-downlink configuration may be classified into 7 types. The positions and/or number of downlink subframes, special subframes, and uplink subframe are different in each configuration.

A point of time at which a change is performed from downlink to uplink or a point of time at which a change is performed from uplink to downlink is called a switching point. The periodicity of the switching point means a cycle in which an uplink subframe and a downlink subframe are changed is identically repeated. Both 5 ms and 10 ms are supported in the periodicity of a switching point. If the periodicity of a switching point has a cycle of a 5 ms downlink-uplink switching point, the special subframe S is present in each half frame. If the periodicity of a switching point has a cycle of a 5 ms downlink-uplink switching point, the special subframe S is present in the first half frame only.

In all the configurations, 0 and 5 subframes and a DwPTS are used for only downlink transmission. An UpPTS and a subframe subsequent to a subframe are always used for uplink transmission.

Such uplink-downlink configurations may be known to both an eNB and UE as system information. An eNB may notify UE of a change of the uplink-downlink allocation state of a radio frame by transmitting only the index of uplink-downlink configuration information to the UE whenever the uplink-downlink configuration information is changed. Furthermore, configuration information is kind of downlink control information and may be transmitted through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) like other scheduling information. Configuration information may be transmitted to all UEs within a cell through a broadcast channel as broadcasting information.

The structure of a radio frame is only one example. The number of subcarriers included in a radio frame or the number of slots included in a subframe and the number of OFDM symbols included in a slot may be changed in various ways.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a resource grid for one downlink slot in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

Referring to FIG. 4, one downlink slot includes a plurality of OFDM symbols in a time domain. It is described herein that one downlink slot includes 7 OFDMA symbols and one resource block includes 12 subcarriers for exemplary purposes only, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Each element on the resource grid is referred to as a resource element, and one resource block (RB) includes 12×7 resource elements. The number of RBs NDL included in a downlink slot depends on a downlink transmission bandwidth.

The structure of an uplink slot may be the same as that of a downlink slot.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of a downlink subframe in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

Referring to FIG. 5, a maximum of three OFDM symbols located in a front portion of a first slot of a subframe correspond to a control region in which control channels are allocated, and the remaining OFDM symbols correspond to a data region in which a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is allocated. Downlink control channels used in 3GPP LTE include, for example, a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH).

A PCFICH is transmitted in the first OFDM symbol of a subframe and carries information about the number of OFDM symbols (i.e., the size of a control region) which is used to transmit control channels within the subframe. A PHICH is a response channel for uplink and carries an acknowledgement (ACK)/not-acknowledgement (NACK) signal for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ). Control information transmitted in a PDCCH is called Downlink Control Information (DCI). DCI includes uplink resource allocation information, downlink resource allocation information, or an uplink transmission (Tx) power control command for a specific UE group.

A PDCCH may carry information about the resource allocation and transport format of a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) (this is also called an “downlink grant”), resource allocation information about an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) (this is also called a “uplink grant”), paging information on a PCH, system information on a DL-SCH, the resource allocation of a higher layer control message, such as a random access response transmitted on a PDSCH, a set of transmission power control commands for individual UE within specific UE group, and the activation of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), etc. A plurality of PDCCHs may be transmitted within the control region, and UE may monitor a plurality of PDCCHs. A PDCCH is transmitted on a single Control Channel Element (CCE) or an aggregation of some contiguous CCEs. A CCE is a logical allocation unit that is used to provide a PDCCH with a coding rate according to the state of a radio channel. A CCE corresponds to a plurality of resource element groups. The format of a PDCCH and the number of available bits of a PDCCH are determined by an association relationship between the number of CCEs and a coding rate provided by CCEs.

An eNB determines the format of a PDCCH based on DCI to be transmitted to UE and attaches a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) to control information. A unique identifier (a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI)) is masked to the CRC depending on the owner or use of a PDCCH. If the PDCCH is a PDCCH for specific UE, an identifier unique to the UE, for example, a Cell-RNTI (C-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. If the PDCCH is a PDCCH for a paging message, a paging indication identifier, for example, a Paging-RNTI (P-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. If the PDCCH is a PDCCH for system information, more specifically, a System Information Block (SIB), a system information identifier, for example, a System Information-RNTI (SI-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC. A Random Access-RNTI (RA-RNTI) may be masked to the CRC in order to indicate a random access response which is a response to the transmission of a random access preamble by UE.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of an uplink subframe in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

Referring to FIG. 6, the uplink subframe may be divided into a control region and a data region in a frequency domain. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) carrying uplink control information is allocated to the control region. A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carrying user data is allocated to the data region. In order to maintain single carrier characteristic, one UE does not send a PUCCH and a PUSCH at the same time.

A Resource Block (RB) pair is allocated to a PUCCH for one UE within a subframe. RBs belonging to an RB pair occupy different subcarriers in each of 2 slots. This is called that an RB pair allocated to a PUCCH is frequency-hopped in a slot boundary.

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

Control information carried on the PDCCH is referred to as downlink control information (DCI). In the PDCCH, the size and purpose of control information may vary depending upon a DCI (downlink control indicator) format, and the size may also vary depending upon the coding rate.

Table 2 shows DCI in accordance with DCI format.

TABLE 2 DCI format Objectives 0 Scheduling of PUSCH 1 Scheduling of one PDSCH codeword 1A Compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword 1B Closed-loop single-rank transmission 1C Paging, RACH response and dynamic BCCH 1D MU-MIMO 2 Scheduling of rank-adapted closed-loop spatial multiplexing mode 2A Scheduling of rank-adapted open-loop spatial multiplexing mode 3 TPC commands for PUCCH and PUSCH with 2 bit power adjustments 3A TPC commands for PUCCH and PUSCH with single bit power adjustments 4 the scheduling of PUSCH in one UL cell with multi- antenna transmission modeport

Referring to Table 2, DCI formats may include a format 0 for PUSCH scheduling, a format 1 for scheduling of one PDSCH codeword, a format 1A for compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword, a format 1C for very compact scheduling of DL-SCH, a format 2 for PDSCH scheduling in closed-loop spatial multiplexing mode, a format 2A for PDSCH scheduling in open-loop spatial multiplexing mode, formats 3 and 3A for transmission of a TPC (transmission power control) command for an uplink channel, and a format 4 for PUSCH scheduling within one uplink cell in a multi-antenna port transmission mode.

The DCI format 1A may be used for PDSCH scheduling regardless of which transmission mode is set for UE.

The DCI format may be applicable independently for each UE, and PDCCHs of multiple UEs can be simultaneously multiplexed within a single subframe. The PDCCH consists of one control channel element (CCE) or an aggregation of several contiguous CCEs. The CCE is a logical assignment unit used to provide the PDCCH with a coding rate depending on a radio channel status. The CCE corresponds to 9 sets of REGs each including 4 resource elements. An eNB may use {1, 2, 4, 8} CCEs to configure one PDCCH signal. Here, {1, 2, 4, 8} are referred to as CCE aggregation levels. The number of CCEs used to transmit a specific PDCCH is determined by the eNB according to channel state. A PDCCH configured according to each UE is interleaved and mapped to a control channel region of each subframe and according to a CCE-to-RE mapping rule. The PDCCH position may depend on the number of OFDM symbols for a control channel of each subframe, the number of PHICH groups, transmit antenna, frequency shift, etc.

As described above, channel coding is performed independently on multiplexed PDCCHs of UEs and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is applied thereto. The CRC is masked with each UE's ID such that each UE can receive a PDCCH allocated thereto. However, the eNB does not provide information about the location of a PDCCH corresponding to a UE in a control region assigned in a subframe. To receive a control channel transmitted from the eNB, the UE finds the PDCCH assigned thereto by monitoring a set of PDCCH candidates in a subframe because the UE cannot be aware of the location of the PDCCH and the CCE set aggregation level or DCI format used for the PDCCH. This is called blinding decoding (BD). Blind decoding may also be called blind detection or blind search. Blind decoding is a method by which a UE de-masks a CRC with the ID thereof and checks for a CRC error to confirm whether the corresponding PDCCH is a control channel for the UE.

Hereinafter, information carried in DCI format 0 will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the structure of DCI format 0 in a wireless communication system to which the present invention may be applied.

DCI format 0 is used for scheduling a PUSCH in an uplink cell.

Table 3 shows information carried in DCI format 0.

TABLE 3 Format 0 (Release 10) Format 0 (Release 8) Carrier Indicator (CIF) Flag for format 0/format Flag for format 0/format 1A 1A differentiation differentiation Hopping flag (FH) Hopping flag (FH) Resource block assignment (RIV) Resource block assignment (RIV) MCS and RV MCS and RV NDI (New Data Indicator) NDI (New Data Indicator) TPC for PUSCH TPC for PUSCH Cyclic shift for DM RS Cyclic shift for DM RS UL index (TDD only) UL index (TDD only) Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) Downlink Assignment Index (DAI) CSI request (1 bit) CSI request (1 or 2 bits: 2 bit is for multi carrier) SRS request Resource allocation type (RAT)

Referring to FIG. 7 and Table 3, information carried in DCI format 0 is as follows:

1) Carrier indicator—0 or 3 bit

2) Flag for format 0 and format 1 differentiation—1 bit. Value 0 indicates DCI format 0 and value 1 indicates format 1A.

3) Frequency hopping flag—1 bit. In this field, the MSB (Most Significant bit) of the corresponding resource allocation may be used for multi-cluster allocation if needed.

4) Resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation—┌log₂(N_(RB) ^(UL)(N_(RB) ^(UL)+1)/2)┐ bits.

For PUSCH hopping in single-cluster allocation, N_(UL_hop) MSB bits are used to obtain the value of ñ_(PRB)(i). (┌log₂(N_(RB) ^(UL)(N_(RB) ^(UL)+1)/2)┐−N_(UL_hop)) bits provide resource allocation of the first slot in the uplink subframe. For non-hopping PUSCH in single-cluster allocation, (┌log₂(N_(BR) ^(UL)(N_(BR) ^(UL)+1)/2)┐) bits provide resource allocation in the uplink subframe. For non-hopping PUSCH in multi-cluster allocation, resource allocation information is obtained from the concatenation of the frequency hopping flag field and the resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation field, and

$\left\lceil {\log_{2}\left( \begin{pmatrix} \left\lceil {{N_{RB}^{UL}/P} + 1} \right\rceil \\ 4 \end{pmatrix} \right)} \right\rceil$ bits provide resource allocation in the uplink subframe, where the value of P depends on the number of downlink resource blocks.

5) MCS (Modulation and coding scheme) and RV (Redundancy Version)—5 bits.

6) New data indicator—1 bit.

7) TPC (Transmit Power Control) command for PUSCH—2 bits.

8) CS (Cyclic Shift) for DMRS (demodulation reference signal) and OC/OCC (orthogonal cover/orthogonal cover code) index—3 bits.

9) UL index—2 bits. This field is present only for TDD operation with uplink-downlink configuration 0.

10) DAI (Downlink Assignment Index)—2 bits. This field is present only for TDD operation with uplink-downlink configurations 1-6.

11) CSI (Channel State Information) request—1 or 2 bits. The 2-bit field applies only when the corresponding DCI is UE-specifically mapped by C-RNTI (Cell-RNT1) to UEs that are configured with one or more downlink cells.

12) SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) request—0 or 1 bit. This field can only be present only when the scheduling PUSCH is UE-specifically mapped by C-RNTI.

13) Resource Allocation type—1 bit.

If the number of information bits in DCI format 0 is less than the payload size of DCI format 1A (including any padding bits appended to DCI format 1A), zeros shall be appended to DCI format 0 until the payload size equals that of DCI format 1A.

Uplink Resource Allocation

Two resource allocation schemes Type 0 and Type 1 are supported for PDCCH/EPDCCH with uplink DCI format (for example, DCI format 0).

The uplink DCI format supports the indication of uplink resource allocation of a set of consecutive resource blocks (Type 0) and the indication of uplink resource allocation of two sets of consecutive resource blocks (Type 1).

If the resource allocation type bit is not present in the uplink DCI format, only Resource Allocation Type 0 is supported.

If the resource allocation type bit is present in the uplink DCI format, it indicates Resource Allocation Type 0 if its value is 0 and Resource Allocation Type 1 if it has any other value than 0. The UE interprets the resource allocation field depending on the resource allocation type bit in the PDCCH/EPDCCH with uplink DCI format detected.

The resource allocation information for Uplink Resource Allocation Type 0 indicates to a scheduled UE a set of contiguously allocated virtual resource block indices n_(VRB). A resource allocation field in the scheduling grant includes a resource indication value (RIV) corresponding to a starting resource block RB_(START) and a length L_(CRBs) in terms of contiguously allocated physical resource blocks.

If (L_(CRBs)−1)≤└N_(RB) ^(UL)/2┘, the RIV is defined by: RIV=N _(RB) ^(DL)(L _(CRBs)−1)+RB_(start)  [Equation 1] else RIV=N _(BR) ^(UL)(N _(BR) ^(UL) −L _(CRBs)+1)+(N _(BR) ^(UL)−1−RB_(START))  [Equation 2]

where N_(BR) ^(UL) denotes the total number of resource blocks RBs in the uplink bandwidth.

Meanwhile, the resource allocation information for Uplink Resource Allocation Type 1 indicates to a scheduled UE two sets of resource blocks. Here, each of the two sets includes one or more consecutive resource block groups RBGs. The RGB size is as shown in the following Table 4.

TABLE 4 System Bandwidth RBG Size N_(RB) ^(UL) (P) ≤10 1 11-26 2 27-63 3  64-110 4

To indicate resource allocation, the combinatorial index r, which corresponds to a starting RBG index s₀ and last RBG index s₁−1 of Resource Block Set 1 and a starting RBG index s₂ and last RBG index s₃−1 of Resource Block Set 2, is defined by the following Equation 3:

$\begin{matrix} {r = {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{M - 1}\left\langle \begin{matrix} {N - s_{i}} \\ {M - i} \end{matrix} \right\rangle}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} \right\rbrack \end{matrix}$

where M=4, and N=┌N_(BR) ^(UL)/P┐+1.

Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)

The Uplink Control Information (UCI) transmitted through a PUCCH can include Scheduling Request (SR), HARQ ACK/NACK information, and downlink channel measurement information as shown below.

-   -   SR (Scheduling Request): used for requesting uplink UL-SCH         resources. SR is transmitted by On-Off Keying (OOK) scheme.     -   HARQ ACK/NACK: a signal responding to a downlink data packet on         a PDSCH. This signal indicates whether a downlink data packet         has successfully received or not. ACK/NACK 1 bit is transmitted         in response to a single downlink codeword while ACK/NACK 2 bits         are transmitted in response to two downlink codewords.     -   CSI (Channel State Information): feedback information about a         downlink channel. CSI can include at least one of a Channel         Quality Indicator (CQI), a Rank Indicator (RI), a Precoding         Matrix Indicator (PMI), and a Precoding Type Indicator (PTI).         For each subframe, 20 bits are used to represent the CSI.

HARQ ACK/NACK information may be generated depending on whether a downlink data packet on a PDSCH has been successfully decoded. In an existing wireless communication system, 1 bit is transmitted as ACK/NACK information with respect to the transmission of downlink single codeword, and 2 bits are transmission as ACK/NACK information with respect to the transmission of downlink 2 codewords.

Channel measurement information denotes feedback information related to a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) scheme and may include a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI), and a Rank Indicator (RI). Such channel measurement information may be commonly called a CQI.

In order to transmit a CQI, 20 bits may be used in each subframe.

A PUCCH may be modulated using a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) scheme and a Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) scheme. Control information for a plurality of UEs may be transmitted through a PUCCH. If Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) is performed in order to distinguish the signals of UEs from each other, a Constant Amplitude Zero Autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence of a length 12 is mostly used. The CAZAC sequence has a characteristic in that a constant size (amplitude) is maintained in a time domain and a frequency domain. Accordingly, the CAZAC sequence has a property suitable for increasing coverage by lowering the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) or Cubic Metric (CM) of UE. Furthermore, ACK/NACK information about downlink data transmission transmitted through a PUCCH is covered using an orthogonal sequence or an Orthogonal Cover (OC).

Furthermore, control information transmitted through a PUCCH may be distinguished from each other using a cyclically shifted sequence having a different Cyclic Shift (CS) value. The cyclically shifted sequence may be generated by cyclically shifting a base sequence by a specific CS amount. The specific CS amount is indicated by a CS index. The number of available CSs may be different depending on delay spread of a channel. A variety of types of sequences may be used as the base sequence, and the CAZAC sequence is an example of the sequences.

Furthermore, the amount of control information that may be transmitted by UE in one subframe may be determined depending on the number of SC-FDMA symbols which may be used to send the control information (i.e., SC-FDMA symbols other than SC-FDMA symbols which are used to send a Reference Signal (RS) for the coherent detection of a PUCCH).

In a 3GPP LTE system, a PUCCH is defined as a total of 7 different formats depending on control information that is transmitted, a modulation scheme, and the amount of control information. The attributes of Uplink Control Information (UCI) transmitted according to each PUCCH format may be summarized as in Table 4 below.

TABLE 4 PUCCH Format Uplink Control Information(UCI) Format 1 Scheduling Request(SR)(unmodulated waveform) Format 1a 1-bit HARQ ACK/NACK with/without SR Format 1b 2-bit HARQ ACK/NACK with/without SR Format 2 CQI (20 coded bits) Format 2 CQI and 1- or 2-bit HARQ ACK/NACK (20 bits) for extended CP only Format 2a CQI and 1-bit HARQ ACK/NACK (20 + 1 coded bits) Format 2b CQI and 2-bit HARQ ACK/NACK (20 + 2 coded bits) Format 3 HARQ ACK/NACK, SR, CSI (48 coded bits)

The PUCCH format 1 is used for SR-only transmission. In the case of SR-only transmission, a not-modulated waveform is applied. This is described in detail later.

The PUCCH format 1a or 1b is used to send HARQ ACK/NACK. If HARQ ACK/NACK is solely transmitted in a specific subframe, the PUCCH format 1a or 1b may be used. Alternatively, HARQ ACK/NACK and an SR may be transmitted in the same subframe using the PUCCH format 1a or 1b.

PUCCH format 2 is used for transmission of CQI, and PUCCH format 2a or 2b is used for transmission of CQI and HARQ ACK/NACK. In the case of extended CP, PUCCH format 2 may be used for transmission of CQI and HARQ ACK/NACK.

PUCCH format 3 is used for carrying an encoded UCI of 48 bits. PUCCH format 3 can carry HARQ ACK/NACK about a plurality of serving cells, SR (if exists), and a CSI report about one serving cell.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a form in which the PUCCH formats are mapped to the PUCCH region of the uplink physical resource block in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

In FIG. 8, N_(BR) ^(UL) is indicative of the number of RBs in uplink, and 0, 1, . . . , N_(BR) ^(UL)−1 means the number of physical RBs. Basically, a PUCCH is mapped to both edges of an uplink frequency block. As shown in FIG. 8, the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b is mapped to a PUCCH region indicated by m=0, 1. This may represent that the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b is mapped to RBs located at a band edge. Furthermore, the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b and the PUCCH format 1/1a/1b may be mixed and mapped to a PUCCH region indicated by m=2. Furthermore, the PUCCH format 1/1a/1b may be mapped to a PUCCH region indicated by m=3, 4, 5. UEs within a cell may be notified of the number N_(RB) ⁽²⁾ of PUCCH RBs which may be used by the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b through broadcasting signaling.

The PUCCH format 2/2a/2b is described below. The PUCCH format 2/2a/2b is a control channel for transmitting channel measurement feedback (i.e., a CQI, a PMI, and an RI).

The report cycle of channel measurement feedback (hereinafter commonly called “CQI information”) and a frequency unit (or frequency resolution) to be measured may be controlled by an eNB. In a time domain, a periodic or aperiodic CQI report may be supported. The PUCCH format 2 may be used for a periodic report, and a PUSCH may be used for an aperiodic report. In the case of an aperiodic report, an eNB may instruct UE to carry an individual CQI report on a resource scheduled to transmit uplink data.

FIG. 9 shows the structure of a CQI channel in the case of a normal CP in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

The SC-FDMA symbols 1 and 5 (i.e., the second and the sixth symbols) of the SC-FDMA symbols 0 to 6 of one slot are used to transmit a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and the remaining SC-FDMA symbols of the SC-FDMA symbols 0 to 6 of the slot may be used to CQI information. Meanwhile, in the case of an extended CP, one SC-FDMA symbol (SC-FDMA symbol 3) is used for DMRS transmission.

In the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b, modulation by a CAZAC sequence is supported, and a QPSK-modulated symbol is multiplied by a CAZAC sequence of a length 12. A Cyclic Shift (CS) of the sequence is changed between a symbol and a slot. Orthogonal covering is used for a DMRS.

A reference signal (DMRS) is carried on 2 SC-FDMA symbols that belong to 7 SC-FDMA symbols included in one slot and that is spaced at 3 SC-FDMA symbols. CQI information is carried on the remaining 5 SC-FDMA symbols of the 7 SC-FDMA symbols. Two RSs are used in one slot in order to support high-speed UE. Furthermore, UEs are distinguished from each other using Cyclic Shift (CS) sequences. CQI information symbols are modulated into all SC-FDMA symbols and transferred. The SC-FDMA symbols consist of one sequence. That is, UE modulates a CQI using each sequence and sends the CQI.

The number of symbols which may be transmitted in one TTI is 10, and the modulation of CQI information is determined up to QPSK. If QPSK mapping is used for an SC-FDMA symbol, a CQI value of 10 bits may be carried on one slot because a CQI value of 2 bits may be carried on the SC-FDMA symbol. Accordingly, a CQI value having a maximum of 20 bits may be carried on one subframe. Frequency domain spread code is used to spread CQI information in a frequency domain.

A CAZAC sequence (e.g., ZC sequence) of a length 12 may be used as the frequency domain spread code. Control channels may be distinguished from each other by applying CAZAC sequences having different cyclic shift values. IFFT is performed on frequency domain-spread CQI information.

12 different UEs may be subjected to orthogonal multiplexing on the same PUCCH RB by 12 cyclic shifts having the same interval. In the case of a normal CP, a DMRS sequence on the SC-FDMA symbols 1 and 5 (on an SC-FDMA symbol 3 in the case of an extended CP) are similar to a CQI signal sequence on a frequency domain, but modulation, such as CQI information, is not applied to the DMRS sequence.

UE may be semi-statically configured by higher layer signaling so that it periodically reports different CQI, PMI and RI Types on PUCCH resources indicated by PUCCH resource indices n_(PUCCH) ^((1,{tilde over (p)})), n_(PUCCH) ^((2,{tilde over (p)})), and n_(PUCCH) ^((3,{tilde over (p)})). In this case, the PUCCH resource index n_(PUCCH) ^((2,{tilde over (p)})) is information indicative of a PUCCH region that is used to transmit the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b and the value of a Cyclic Shift (CS) to be used.

Hereinafter, the PUCCH format 1a and 1b is described below.

In the PUCCH format 1a/1b, a symbol modulated using a BPSK or QPSK modulation scheme is multiplied by a CAZAC sequence of a length 12. For example, the results of a modulation symbol d(0) by a CAZAC sequence r(n)(n=0, 1, 2, . . . , N−1) of a length N become y(0), y(1), y(2), . . . , y(N−1). The symbols y(0), . . . , y(N−1) may be called a block of symbols. After the modulation symbol is multiplied by the CAZAC sequence, block-wise spread using an orthogonal sequence is applied.

A Hadamard sequence of a length 4 is used for common ACK/NACK information, and a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) sequence of a length 3 is used for shortened ACK/NACK information and a reference signal.

In the case of an extended CP, a Hadamard sequence of a length 2 is used in a reference signal.

FIG. 10 shows the structure of an ACK/NACK channel in the case of a normal CP in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 10 illustrates a PUCCH channel structure for transmitting HARQ ACK/NACK without a CQI.

A Reference Signal (RS) is carried on 3 contiguous SC-FDMA symbol that belong to 7 SC-FDMA symbols included in one slot and that are placed in a middle portion, and an ACK/NACK signal is carried on the remaining 4 SC-FDMA symbols of the 7 SC-FDMA symbols.

Meanwhile, in the case of an extended CP, an RS may be carried on 2 contiguous symbols placed in the middle of one slot. The number and positions of symbols used in an RS may be different depending on control channels, and the number and positions of symbols used in an ACK/NACK signal associated with the control channels may be changed depending on the number and positions of symbols used in the RS.

ACK information (not-scrambled state) of 1 bit and 2 bits may be represented as one HARQ ACK/NACK modulation symbol using respective BPSK and QPSK modulation schemes. Positive ACK (ACK) may be encoded as “1”, and negative ACK (NACK) may be encoded as “0”.

When a control signal is to be transmitted within an allocated bandwidth, two-dimensional spreading is applied in order to increase multiplexing capacity. That is, in order to increase the number of UEs or the number of control channels that may be multiplexed, frequency domain spreading and time domain spreading are used at the same time.

In order to spread an ACK/NACK signal in a frequency domain, a frequency domain sequence is used as a base sequence. A Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence which is one of CAZAC sequences, may be used as the frequency domain sequence. For example, by applying a different Cyclic Shift (CS) to a ZC sequence which is a base sequence, different UEs or different control channels may be multiplexed. The number of CS resources supported in a SC-FDMA symbol for PUCCH RBs for transmitting HARQ ACK/NACK is configured by a cell-specific upper layer signaling parameter Δ_(shift) ^(PUCCH).

An ACK/NACK signal spread in a frequency domain is spread in a time domain using orthogonal spreading code. A Walsh-Hadamard sequence or DFT sequence may be used as the orthogonal spreading code. For example, an ACK/NACK signal may be spread for 4 symbols using an orthogonal sequence w0, w1, w2, or w3 of a length 4. Furthermore, an RS is also spread using an orthogonal sequence of a length 3 or length 2. This is called Orthogonal Covering (OC).

A plurality of UEs may be multiplexed using a Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) method using CS resources in a frequency domain and OC resources in a time domain, such as those described above. That is, ACK/NACK information and RSs of a large number of UEs may be multiplexed on the same PUCCH RB.

The number of spreading code supported for ACK/NACK information is restricted by the number of RS symbols with respect to such time domain spreading CDM. That is, the multiplexing capacity of an RS is smaller than the multiplexing capacity of ACK/NACK information because the number of SC-FDMA symbols for RS transmission is smaller than the number of SC-FDMA symbols for ACK/NACK information transmission.

For example, in the case of a normal CP, ACK/NACK information may be transmitted in 4 symbols. 3 pieces of orthogonal spreading code not 4 are used for ACK/NACK information. The reason for this is that only 3 pieces of orthogonal spreading code may be used for an RS because the number of symbols for RS transmission is limited to 3.

In case that 3 symbols of one slot may be used for RS transmission and 4 symbols of the slot may be used for ACK/NACK information transmission in a subframe of a normal CP, for example, if 6 Cyclic Shifts (CSs) may be used in a frequency domain and 3 Orthogonal Cover (OC) resources may be used in a time domain, HARQ ACK from a total of 18 different UEs may be multiplexed within one PUCCH RB. In case that 2 symbols of one slot are used for RS transmission and 4 symbols of one slot are used for ACK/NACK information transmission in a subframe of an extended CP, for example, if 6 CSs may be used in a frequency domain and 2 OC resources may be used in a time domain, HARQ ACK from a total of 12 different UEs may be multiplexed within one PUCCH RB.

The PUCCH format 1 is described below. A Scheduling Request (SR) is transmitted in such a way as to make a request or does not make a request that UE is scheduled. An SR channel reuses an ACK/NACK channel structure in the PUCCH format 1a/1b and consists of an On-Off Keying (OKK) method based on an ACK/NACK channel design. An RS is not transmitted in the SR channel. Accordingly, a sequence of a length 7 is used in the case of a normal CP, and a sequence of a length 6 is used in the case of an extended CP. Different cyclic shifts or orthogonal covers may be allocated to an SR and ACK/NACK. That is, in order to send a positive SR, UE sends HARQ ACK/NACK through a resource allocated for the SR. In order to send a negative SR, UE sends HARQ ACK/NACK through a resource allocated for ACK/NACK.

An enhanced-PUCCH (e-PUCCH) format is described below. An e-PUCCH may correspond to the PUCCH format 3 of an LTE-A system. A block spreading scheme may be applied to ACK/NACK transmission using the PUCCH format 3.

Unlike in the existing PUCCH format 1 series or 2 series, the block spreading scheme is a method of modulating control signal transmission using an SC-FDMA method. As shown in FIG. 10, a symbol sequence may be spread in a time domain using Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) and transmitted. By using OCC, the control signals of a plurality of UEs may be multiplexed on the same RB. In the case of the PUCCH format 2, one symbol sequence is transmitted in a time domain, and the control signals of a plurality of UEs are multiplexed using a Cyclic Shift (CS) of a CAZAC sequence. In contrast, in the case of a block spreading-based PUCCH format (e.g., the PUCCH format 3), one symbol sequence is transmitted in a frequency domain, and the control signals of a plurality of UEs are multiplexed using time domain spreading using OCC.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which 5 SC-FDMA symbols are generated and transmitted during one slot in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which 5 SC-FDMA symbols (i.e., a data part) are generated using OCC of a length=5 (or SF=5) in one symbol sequence during 1 slot and transmitted. In this case, 2 RS symbols may be used during the 1 slot.

In the example of FIG. 11, the RS symbols may be generated from a CAZAC sequence to which a specific CS value has been applied and may be transmitted in a form in which a specific OCC may be applied (or multiplied) to a plurality of RS symbols. Furthermore, in the example of FIG. 8, assuming that 12 modulation symbols are used in each OFDM symbol (or SC-FDMA symbol) and each of the modulation symbols is generated by QPSK, a maximum number of bits capable of being transmitted in one slot are 12×2=24 bits. Accordingly, a total number of bits capable of being transmitted in 2 slots are 48 bits. As described above, if a PUCCH channel structure using a block spreading method is used, control information having an extended size compared to the existing PUCCH format 1 series and 2 series can be transmitted.

General Carrier Aggregation

A communication environment taken into consideration in embodiments of the present invention includes a multi-carrier support environment. That is, a multi-carrier system or Carrier Aggregation (CA) system that is used in an embodiment of the present invention refers to a system in which one or more Component Carriers (CCs) having a smaller bandwidth than a target bandwidth are aggregated and used when the target wideband is configured in order to support a wideband.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a multi-carrier means of an aggregation of carriers (or a carrier aggregation). In this case, an aggregation of carriers means both an aggregation between contiguous carriers and an aggregation between discontiguous (or non-contiguous) carriers. Furthermore, the number of CCs aggregated between downlink and uplink may be different. A case where the number of downlink CCs (hereinafter called “DL CCs”) and the number of uplink CCs (hereinafter called “UL CCs”) are the same is called a symmetric aggregation. A case where the number of DL CCs is different from the number of UL CCs is called an asymmetric aggregation. Such the term of a carrier aggregation may be replaced with terms, such as a carrier aggregation, bandwidth aggregation, or spectrum aggregation.

An object of a carrier aggregation configured by aggregating two or more component carriers is to support up to a 100 MHz bandwidth in an LTE-A system. When one or more carriers having a smaller bandwidth than a target bandwidth are aggregated, the bandwidth of the aggregated carriers may be restricted to a bandwidth which is used in an existing system in order to maintain backward compatibility with an existing IMT system. For example, in an existing 3GPP LTE system, {1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20} MHz bandwidths may be supported. In a 3GPP LTE-advanced system (i.e., LTE-A), bandwidths greater than the bandwidth 20 MHz may be supported using only the bandwidths for a backward compatibility with existing systems. Furthermore, in a carrier aggregation system used in an embodiment of the present invention, new bandwidths may be defined regardless of the bandwidths used in the existing systems in order to support a carrier aggregation.

An LTE-A system uses the concept of a cell in order to manage radio resources.

The aforementioned carrier aggregation environment may also be called a multi-cell environment. A cell is defined as a combination of a pair of a downlink resource (DL CC) and an uplink resource (UL CC), but an uplink resource is not an essential element. Accordingly, a cell may consist of a downlink resource only or a downlink resource and an uplink resource. If specific UE has a single configured serving cell, it may have 1 DL CC and 1 UL CC. If specific UE has two or more configured serving cells, it has DL CCs corresponding to the number of cells, and the number of UL CCs may be the same as or smaller than the number of DL CCs.

In some embodiments, a DL CC and an UL CC may be configured in an opposite way. That is, if specific UE has a plurality of configured serving cells, a carrier aggregation environment in which the number of UL CCs is greater than the number of DL CCs may also be supported. That is, a carrier aggregation may be understood as being an aggregation of two or more cells having different carrier frequency (the center frequency of a cell). In this case, the “cell” should be distinguished from a “cell”, that is, a region commonly covered by an eNB.

A cell used in an LTE-A system includes a Primary Cell (PCell) and a Secondary Cell (SCell). A PCell and an SCell may be used as serving cells. In the case of UE which is in an RRC_CONNECTED state, but in which a carrier aggregation has not been configured or which does not support a carrier aggregation, only one serving cell configured as only a PCell is present. In contrast, in the case of UE which is in the RRC_CONNECTED state and in which a carrier aggregation has been configured, one or more serving cells may be present. A PCell and one or more SCells are included in each serving cell.

A serving cell (PCell and SCell) may be configured through an RRC parameter. PhysCellId is the physical layer identifier of a cell and has an integer value from 0 to 503. SCellIndex is a short identifier which is used to identify an SCell and has an integer value of 1 to 7. ServCellIndex is a short identifier which is used to identify a serving cell (PCell or SCell) and has an integer value of 0 to 7. The value 0 is applied to a PCell, and SCellIndex is previously assigned in order to apply it to an SCell. That is, in ServCellIndex, a cell having the smallest cell ID (or cell index) becomes a PCell.

A PCell means a cell operating on a primary frequency (or primary CC). A PCell may be used for UE to perform an initial connection establishment process or a connection re-establishment process and may refer to a cell indicated in a handover process. Furthermore, a PCell means a cell that belongs to serving cells configured in a carrier aggregation environment and that becomes the center of control-related communication. That is, UE may receive a PUCCH allocated only in its PCell and send the PUCCH and may use only the PCell to obtain system information or to change a monitoring procedure. An Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) may change only a PCell for a handover procedure using the RRC connection reconfiguration (RRCConnectionReconfiguration) message of a higher layer including mobility control information (mobilityControlInfo) for UE which supports a carrier aggregation environment.

An SCell may mean a cell operating on a secondary frequency (or secondary CC). Only one PCell is allocated to specific UE, and one or more SCells may be allocated to the specific UE. An SCell may be configured after RRC connection is established and may be used to provide additional radio resources. A PUCCH is not present in the remaining cells, that is, SCells that belong to serving cells configured in a carrier aggregation environment and that do not include a PCell. When adding an SCell to UE supporting a carrier aggregation environment, an E-UTRAN may provide all types of system information related to the operation of a related cell in the RRC_CONNECTED state through a dedicated signal. A change of system information may be controlled by releasing and adding a related SCell. In this case, the RRC connection reconfiguration (RRCConnectionReconfigutaion) message of a higher layer may be used. An E-UTRAN may send dedicated signaling having a different parameter for each UE instead of broadcasting within a related SCell.

After an initial security activation process is started, an E-UTRAN may configure a network including one or more SCells by adding to a PCell that is initially configured in a connection establishing process. In a carrier aggregation environment, a PCell and an SCell may operate respective component carriers. In the following embodiments, a Primary Component Carrier (PCC) may be used as the same meaning as a PCell, and a Secondary Component Carrier (SCC) may be used as the same meaning as an SCell.

FIG. 12 shows an example of component carriers and a carrier aggregation in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 12a shows the structure of a single carrier used in an LTE system. A component carrier includes a DL CC and an UL CC. One component carrier may have a frequency range of 20 MHz.

FIG. 12b shows the structure of a carrier aggregation used in an LTE-A system. FIG. 12b shows an example in which 3 component carriers each having a frequency size of 20 MHz have been aggregated. Three DL CCs and three UL CCs have been illustrated in FIG. 12, but the number of DL CCs and UL CCs is not limited. In the case of a carrier aggregation, UE may monitor 3 CCs at the same time, may receive downlink signal/data, and may transmit uplink signal/data.

If N DL CCs are managed in a specific cell, a network may allocate M (M≤N) DL CCs to UE. In this case, the UE may monitor only the M limited DL CCs and receive a DL signal. Furthermore, a network may give priority to L (L≤M≤N) DL CCs and allocate major DL CCs to UE. In this case, the UE must monitor the L DL CCs. Such a method may be applied to uplink transmission in the same manner.

A linkage between a carrier frequency (or DL CC) of a downlink resource and a carrier frequency (or UL CC) of an uplink resource may be indicated by a higher layer message, such as an RRC message, or system information. For example, a combination of DL resources and UL resources may be configured by a linkage defined by System Information Block Type2 (SIB2). Specifically, the linkage may mean a mapping relationship between a DL CC in which a PDCCH carrying an UL grant is transmitted and an UL CC in which the UL grant is used and may mean a mapping relationship between a DL CC (or UL CC) in which data for an HARQ is transmitted and an UL CC (or DL CC) in which an HARQ ACK/NACK signal is transmitted.

Cross-Carrier Scheduling

In a carrier aggregation system, there are two methods, that is, a self-scheduling method and a cross-carrier scheduling method form the point of view of scheduling for a carrier or a serving cell. Cross-carrier scheduling may also be called cross-component carrier scheduling or cross-cell scheduling.

Cross-carrier scheduling means that a PDCCH (DL grant) and a PDSCH are transmitted in different DL CCs or that a PUSCH transmitted according to a PDCCH (UL grant) transmitted in a DL CC is transmitted through an UL CC different from an UL CC that is linked to the DL CC through which the UL grant has been received.

Whether cross-carrier scheduling will be performed may be activated or deactivate in a UE-specific way, and each UE may be notified through high layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) semi-statically.

If cross-carrier scheduling is activated, there is a need for a Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) providing notification that a PDSCH/PUSCH indicated by a PDCCH is transmitted through which DL/UL CC. For example, a PDCCH may allocate a PDSCH resource or PUSCH resource to any one of a plurality of component carriers using a CIF. That is, if a PDCCH on a DL CC allocates a PDSCH or PUSCH resource to one of multi-aggregated DL/UL CCs, a CIF is configured. In this case, a DCI format of LTE-A Release-8 may be extended according to the CIF. In this case, the configured CIF may be fixed to a 3-bit field, and the position of the configured CIF may be fixed regardless of the size of the DCI format. Furthermore, a PDCCH structure (resource mapping based on the same coding and the same CCE) of LTE-A Release-8 may be reused.

In contrast, if a PDCCH on a DL CC allocates a PDSCH resource on the same DL CC or allocates a PUSCH resource on a single-linked UL CC, a CIF is not configured. In this case, the same PDCCH structure (resource mapping based on the same coding and the same CCE) and DCI format as those of LTE-A Release-8 may be used.

If cross-carrier scheduling is possible, UE needs to monitor a PDCCH for a plurality of pieces of DCI in the control region of a monitoring CC based on a transmission mode and/or bandwidth corresponding to each CC. Accordingly, there is a need for the configuration of a search space and PDCCH monitoring capable of supporting such monitoring.

In a carrier aggregation system, a UE DL CC set is indicative of a set of DL CCs scheduled so that UE receives a PDSCH. A UE UL CC set is indicative of a set of UL CCs scheduled so that UE transmits a PUSCH. Furthermore, a PDCCH monitoring set is indicative of a set of one or more DL CCs for performing PDCCH monitoring. A PDCCH monitoring set may be the same as a UE DL CC set or may be a subset of a UE DL CC set. A PDCCH monitoring set may include at least one of DL CCs within a UE DL CC set. Alternatively, a PDCCH monitoring set may be separately defined regardless of a UE DL CC set. DL CCs included in a PDCCH monitoring set may be configured so that self-scheduling for a linked UL CC is always possible. Such a UE DL CC set, UE UL CC set, and PDCCH monitoring set may be configured in a UE-specific, UE group-specific, or cell-specific way.

If cross-carrier scheduling is deactivated, it means that a PDCCH monitoring set is always the same as UE DL CC set. In this case, there is no indication, such as separate signaling for a PDCCH monitoring set. However, if cross-carrier scheduling is activated, a PDCCH monitoring set may be defined in a UE DL CC set. That is, in order to schedule a PDSCH or PUSCH for UE, an eNB transmits a PDCCH through a PDCCH monitoring set only.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the structure of a subframe according to cross-carrier scheduling in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 13 shows an example in which 3 DL CCs are aggregated in a DL subframe for LTE-A UE and a DL CC “A” has been configured as a PDCCH monitoring DL CC. IF a CIF is not used, each DL CC may send a PDCCH for scheduling its PDSCH without a CIF. In contrast, if a CIF is used through higher layer signaling, only the single DL CC “A” may send its PDSCH or a PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH of a different CC using the CIF. In this case, the DL CCs “B” and “C” not configured as PDCCH monitoring DL CCs do not send a PDCCH.

D2D (Device-to-Device) Communication

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication technology refers to direct communication between geographically adjacent UEs without going through an infrastructure such as an eNB.

For D2D communication technology, commercially available technologies such as Wi-Fi direct and Bluetooth that mainly use an unlicensed frequency band have been developed. However, the development and standardization of D2D communication technologies using a licensed frequency band are under way with the aim of improving the utilization of cellular systems.

In general, D2D communication is limitedly used as a term indicative of communication between things or thing intelligence communication. In an embodiment of the present invention, however, D2D communication may include all types of communication between a variety of types of devices having a communication function, such as smart phones and personal computers, in addition to simple devices having a communication function.

FIG. 14 is a diagram conceptually illustrating D2D communication in a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention may be applied.

FIG. 14a shows an existing communication method based on an eNB. UE1 may send data to an eNB in uplink, and the eNB may send data to UE2 in downlink. Such a communication method may be called an indirect communication method through an eNB. An Un link (i.e., a link between eNBs or a link between an eNB and a relay node, which may be called a backhaul link), that is, a link defined in an existing wireless communication system, and/or an Uu link (i.e., a link between an eNB and UE or a link between a relay node and UE, which may be called an access link) may be related to the indirect communication method.

FIG. 14b shows a UE-to-UE communication method, that is, an example of D2D communication. The exchange of data between UEs may be performed without the intervention of an eNB. Such a communication method may be called a direct communication method between devices. The D2D direct communication method has advantages of reduced latency and the use of lesser radio resources compared to the existing indirect communication method through an eNB.

FIG. 15 shows an example of various scenarios of D2D communication to which a method proposed in this specification may be applied.

A scenario for D2D communication may be basically divided into (1) an out-of-coverage network, (2) a partial-coverage network, and (3) an in-coverage network depending on where UE1 and UE2 are placed within cell coverage (i.e., in-coverage) and out of cell coverage (i.e. out-of-coverage).

The in-coverage network may be divided into an in-coverage-single-cell and an in-coverage-multi-cell depending on the number of cells corresponding to coverage of an eNB.

FIG. 15(a) shows an example of an out-of-coverage network scenario for D2D communication.

The out-of-coverage network scenario means that D2D communication is performed between D2D UEs without control of an eNB.

From FIG. 15(a), it may be seen that only UE1 and UE2 are present and the UE1 and the UE2 perform direct communication.

FIG. 15(b) shows an example of a partial-coverage network scenario for D2D communication.

The partial-coverage network scenario means that D2D communication is performed between D2D UE placed within network coverage and D2D UE placed out of the network coverage.

From FIG. 15(b), it may be seen that UE1 placed within network coverage and UE2 placed out of the network coverage perform communication.

FIG. 15(c) shows an example of an in-coverage-single-cell scenario, and FIG. 15(d) shows an example of an in-coverage-multi-cell scenario.

The in-coverage network scenario means that D2D UEs perform D2D communication through control of an eNB within network coverage.

In FIG. 15(c), UE1 and UE2 are placed within the same network coverage (or cell) and perform D2D communication under the control of an eNB.

In FIG. 15(d), UE1 and UE2 are placed within network coverage, but are placed within different network coverage. Furthermore, the UE1 and the UE2 perform D2D communication under the control of eNBs managing each of network coverage.

D2D communication is described in more detail below.

D2D communication may be performed in the scenarios of FIG. 15, but may be commonly performed within network coverage (in-coverage) and out of network coverage (out-of-coverage). A link used for D2D communication (i.e., direct communication between UEs) may be called a D2D link, a directlink, or a sidelink, but is hereinafter generally called a sidelink, for convenience of description.

Sidelink transmission may be performed in an uplink spectrum in the case of FDD and may be performed in an uplink (or downlink) subframe in the case of TDD. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) may be used for the multiplexing of sidelink transmission and uplink transmission.

Sidelink transmission and uplink transmission are not occurred at the same time. Sidelink transmission is not occurred in a sidelink subframe which partially or generally overlaps an uplink subframe or UpPTS used for uplink transmission. Furthermore, the transmission and reception of a sidelink are also not occurred at the same time.

The structure of an uplink physical resource may be identically used as the structure of a physical resource used for sidelink transmission. However, the last symbol of a sidelink subframe includes a guard period and is not used for sidelink transmission.

A sidelink subframe may include an extended Cyclic Prefix (CP) or a normal CP.

D2D communication may be basically divided into discovery, direct communication, and synchronization.

1) Discovery

D2D discovery may be applied within network coverage (including an inter-cell and an intra-cell). In inter-cell discovery, both synchronous and asynchronous cell deployments may be taken into consideration. D2D discovery may be used for various commercial purposes, such as advertising, issuing coupons, and finding friends, to UE within a proximity region.

If UE 1 has a role of sending a discovery message, the UE 1 sends a discovery message, and UE 2 receives the discovery message. The transmission and reception roles of the UE 1 and the UE 2 may be changed. Transmission from the UE 1 may be received by one or more UE(s), such as the UE 2.

The discovery message may include a single MAC PDU. In this case, the single MAC PDU may include a UE ID and an application ID.

A physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) may be defined as a channel for sending the discovery message. The structure of a PUSCH may be reused as the structure of the PSDCH.

Two types Type 1 and Type 2 may be used as a resource allocation method for D2D discovery.

In the case of Type 1, an eNB may allocate a resource for sending a discovery message in a non-UE-specific way.

To be specific, a radio resource pool comprising a plurality of subframe sets and a plurality of resource block sets for transmitting and receiving a discovery message within a specific period (in what follows, ‘discovery period’) is allocated, and a discovery transmitting UE selects a specific resource within the radio resource pool in an arbitrary manner and transmits a discovery message.

The periodic discovery resource pool can be allocated for transmission of a discovery signal in a semi-static manner. The configuration information of a discovery resource pool for discovery transmission includes a discovery period, a subframe set which can be used for transmission of a discovery signal within the discovery period, and information about a resource block set. The configuration information of the discovery resource pool can be transmitted to the UE through upper layer signaling. In the case of an in-coverage UE, the discovery resource pool for discovery transmission is set up by an eNB and can be informed to the UE through RRC signaling (for example, System Information Block (SIB)).

The discovery resource pool allocated for discovery within one discovery period can be multiplexed to a time-frequency resource block of the same size through TDM and/or FDM scheme, where the time-frequency resource block of the same size can be called a ‘discovery resource’. A discovery resource can be set as one subframe unit and include two Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) per slot in each subframe. One UE can use one discovery resource for transmission of a discovery MAC PDU.

Also, a UE can transmit a discovery signal repeatedly within a discovery period for transmission of one transport block. Transmission of a MAC PDU by one UE can be repeated (for example, four times) contiguously or non-contiguously within the discovery period (namely radio resource pool). The transmission times of a discovery signal for one transmission block can be transmitted to the UE through upper layer signaling.

UE may randomly select a first discovery resource in a discovery resource set which may be used for the repetitive transmission of an MAC PDU and may determine the remaining discovery resources in relation to the first discovery resource. For example, a specific pattern may be previously determined, and a next discovery resource may be determined according to the predetermined specific pattern depending on the position of a discovery resource first selected by UE. Alternatively, UE may randomly select each discovery resource within a discovery resource set which may be used for the repetitive transmission of an MAC PDU.

In the case of Type 2, a resource for discovery message transmission is allocated in a UE-specific way. Type 2 is subdivided into Type-2A and Type-2B. Type-2A is a method of allocating, by an eNB, a resource at the instance at which UE sends a discovery message within a discovery cycle, and Type-2B is a method of allocating resources semi-persistently.

In the case of Type-2B, RRC_CONNECTED UE requests an eNB to allocate a resource for the transmission of a D2D discovery message through RRC signaling. Furthermore, the eNB may allocate the resource through RRC signaling. When the UE transits to an RRC_IDLE state or when the eNB withdraws resource allocation through RRC signaling, the UE releases the most recently allocated transmission resource. As described above, in the case of Type-2B, a radio resource may be allocated through RRC signaling, and the activation/deactivation of an allocated radio resource may be determined by a PDCCH.

A radio resource pool for receiving a discovery message may be configured by an eNB, and UE may be notified of the configured radio resource pool through RRC signaling (e.g., a System Information Block (SIB)).

Discovery message reception UE monitors both the aforementioned discovery resource pools of Type 1 and Type 2 in order to receive a discovery message.

2) Direct Communication

The region to which D2D direct communication is applied includes a network coverage edge area (i.e., edge-of-coverage) in addition to inside and outside network coverage (i.e., in-coverage and out-of-coverage). D2D direct communication may be used for purposes, such as Public Safety (PS).

If UE 1 has a role of direct communication data transmission, the UE 1 sends direct communication data, and UE 2 receives the direct communication data. The transmission and reception roles of the UE 1 and the UE 2 may be changed. The direct communication transmission from the UE 1 may be received by one or more UE(s), such as the UE 2.

D2D discovery and D2D communication may be independently defined without being associated with each other. That is, in groupcast and broadcast direct communication, D2D discovery is not required. If D2D discovery and D2D direct communication are independently defined as described above, UEs do not need to perceive adjacent UE. In other words, in the case of groupcast and broadcast direct communication, all reception UEs within a group are not required to be adjacent to each other.

A physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) may be defined as a channel for sending D2D direct communication data. Furthermore, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) may be defined as a channel for sending control information (e.g., Scheduling Assignment (SA), a transmission format for direct communication data transmission, etc) for D2D direct communication. The structure of a PUSCH may be reused as the structures of the PSSCH and the PSCCH.

Two types of mode 1 and mode 2 may be used as a resource allocation method for D2D direct communication.

Mode 1 refers to a method of scheduling, by an eNB, data for D2D direct communication by UE or a resource used for UE to send control information. Mode 1 is applied to in-coverage.

An eNB configures a resource pool for D2D direct communication. In this case, the resource pool for D2D communication may be divided into a control information pool and a D2D data pool. When an eNB schedules control information and a D2D data transmission resource within a pool configured for transmission D2D UE using a PDCCH or ePDCCH (enhanced PDCCH), the transmission D2D UE sends control information and D2D data using the allocated resource.

Transmission UE requests a transmission resource from an eNB. The eNB schedules a resource for sending control information and D2D direct communication data. That is, in the case of mode 1, the transmission UE needs to be in the RRC_CONNECTED state in order to perform D2D direct communication. The transmission UE sends a scheduling request to the eNB, and a Buffer Status Report (BSR) procedure is performed so that the eNB may determine the amount of resources requested by the transmission UE.

Reception UEs monitors a control information pool. When decoding control information related to reception UE, the reception UE may selectively decode D2D data transmission related to corresponding control information. The reception UE may not decode a D2D data pool based on a result of the decoding of the control information.

Mode 2 refers to a method of randomly selecting, by UE, a specific resource in a resource pool in order to send data or control information for D2D direct communication. Mode 2 is applied to out-of-coverage and/or edge-of-coverage.

In mode 2, a resource pool for sending control information and/or a resource pool for sending D2D direct communication data may be pre-configured or may be configured semi-statically. UE is supplied with a configured resource pool (time and frequency) and selects a resource for D2D communication transmission in the resource pool. That is, the UE may select a resource for control information transmission in a control information resource pool in order to send control information. Furthermore, the UE may select a resource in a data resource pool in order to send D2D direct communication data.

In D2D broadcast communication, control information is transmitted by broadcasting UE. Control information is explicitly and/or implicitly indicative of the position of a resource for data reception in relation to a physical channel (i.e., a PSSCH) on which D2D direct communication data is carried.

3) Synchronization

A D2D Synchronization Signal/sequence (D2DSS) can be used by a UE to obtain time-frequency synchronization. In particular, since the eNB is unable to control a UE located beyond network coverage, a new signal and procedure can be defined to establish synchronization among UEs. A D2D synchronization signal can be called a sidelink synchronization signal.

A UE transmitting a D2D synchronization signal periodically can be called a D2D synchronization source or a sidelink synchronization source. In case a D2D synchronization source is an eNB, the structure of a D2D synchronization signal being transmitted can be identical to that of PSS/SSS. In case the D2D synchronization source is not an eNB (for example, a UE or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)), the structure of a D2D synchronization signal being transmitted can be newly defined.

The D2D synchronization signal is transmitted periodically with a period not shorter than 40 ms. Each UE can have a physical-layer D2D synchronization identity. The physical-layer D2D synchronization identifier may be called a physical-layer sidelink synchronization identity or simply a D2D synchronization identifier.

The D2D synchronization signal includes a D2D primary synchronization signal/sequence and a D2D secondary synchronization signal/sequence. These signals can be called a primary sidelink synchronization signal and a secondary sidelink synchronization signal, respectively.

Before transmitting a D2D synchronization signal, the UE may first search for a D2D synchronization source. If a D2D synchronization source is found, the UE can obtain time-frequency synchronization through a D2D synchronization signal received from the D2D synchronization source found. And the corresponding UE can transmit the D2D synchronization signal.

Moreover, a channel for transmitting necessary information to be used for device-to-device communication as well as for synchronization may be required, and a channel for this purpose may be defined. Such a channel may be referred to as PD2DSCH (Physical D2D Synchronization Channel) or PSBCH (Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel.

In D2D communication, direct communication between two devices is described below as an example, for clarity, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. The same principle described in an embodiment of the present invention may be applied to D2D communication between a plurality of two or more devices.

Hereinafter, methods for transmitting D2D control information or D2D data or both, which are proposed according to embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail.

As described above, D2D link may be represented as a sidelink

Furthermore, D2D control information may be represented as Sidelink Control Information (SCI), and the D2D control information may be transmitted and received through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH).

Furthermore, D2D data may be transmitted and received through a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and the transmission/reception of the D2D data may be represented as the transmission and reception of PSSCHs.

In performing D2D communication, D2D control information may be defined in order for D2D UE to demodulate D2D data.

As described above, the D2D control information may be represented as SCI, and the D2D control information and the SCI are interchangeably used hereinafter.

In this case, the D2D control information may be transmitted through a channel (or as a separate signal) separate from a D2D communication channel through which the D2D data is delivered

As described above, the D2D communication channel may be represented as a PSSCH, and the D2D communication channel and the PSSCH are interchangeably used hereinafter.

Furthermore, methods to be described hereinafter may be identically applied when control information required to deliver a D2D discovery message is separately transmitted.

The D2D control information may include some of or the entire information, such as a New Data Indicator (NDI), Resource Allocation (RA) (or a resource configuration), a Modulation and Coding Scheme/Set (MCS), a Redundancy Version (RV), and a Tx UE ID.

The D2D control information may have a different combination of pieces of information depending on a scenario to which the D2D communication is applied.

In general, control information (CI) may be decoded prior to a data channel because it is used to demodulate the data channel.

Accordingly, pieces of UE that receive the control information may need to be aware the location of time and frequency resources through which the control information is transmitted and related parameters for the demodulation of the data channel.

For example, in an LTE (-A) system, in the case of a PDCCH, a UE ID-based hashing function is used by a transmission stage (e.g., an eNB) and a reception stage (e.g., UE) in common so that the UE can be aware that the PDCCH will be transmitted at a specific location of specific symbols of each subframe.

Furthermore, in an LTE (-A) system, in the case of a BCH, an eNB and UE share information, indicating that system information is delivered in a specific symbol of a specific subframe (SF) in a cycle of 40 ms, in advance.

As described above, in order for UE to properly obtain the control information, demodulation-related information (or parameter) of the control information may need to be sufficiently delivered to the UE in advance.

Likewise, in a system supporting D2D communication, in order for D2D UE to successfully demodulate D2D control information, a parameter related to the transmission of the D2D control information may need to be shared by the D2D UE in advance.

The parameter related to the transmission of the D2D control information may include, for example, a subframe/slot index, a symbol index, or an RB index.

Furthermore, the parameter related to the transmission of the D2D control information may be the DCI of a specific format and may be obtained through a PDCCH from an eNB or another D2D UE.

The DCI of the specific format means a newly defined DCI format and may be, for example, a DCI format 5.

In an embodiment, the D2D control information may be designated to be transmitted in all of subframes designated as D2D subframes (i.e., subframes designated for D2D transmission), a series of subframes (a set of subframes or a subframe set) that belong to all the subframes and that has a specific index, or a subframe set having a specific cycle.

Such potential transmission subframe or subframe set of the D2D control information may be recognized by UE in advance through (higher layer) signaling or based on UE-specific information (e.g., a UE ID) in such a manner that the UE may autonomously calculate the transmission subframe or subframe set.

Furthermore, a resource region in which a D2D data channel is delivered and a resource region in which D2D control information is delivered may be differently configured in a time domain.

That is, the D2D control information may be defined to be transmitted in a designated time unit, that is, periodically (or while hopping in a designated time-frequency domain pattern). The D2D data channel may be defined to be delivered only in a resource region indicated by the D2D control information.

Unlike a method for transmitting D2D control information and D2D data together, the method means a method in which a case where the D2D control information is transmitted and a case where D2D data is transmitted are independently operated.

Specifically, if the D2D control information and the D2D data are separately transmitted, (1) parameters (e.g., scrambling, CRC, CRC masking, or demodulation sequence generation parameters) applied to the D2D control information and the D2D data are independently set or (2) a parameter applied to the D2D data is indicated through the D2D control information.

In the case of (2), D2D UE attempts (e.g., explicit or blind decoding) monitoring and decoding at the D2D control information using a potential parameter in a (potential) resource (i.e., subframe or subframe set) in which the D2D control information is reserved to be transmitted and does not perform decoding attempts at the D2D control information in a resource region other than the potential resource.

In this case, there is an advantage in that power consumption of UE can be reduced.

Furthermore, if UE demodulates D2D data, the UE has only to demodulate only designated information at a designated point using a parameter and D2D data resource region information obtained through the D2D control information. Accordingly, there is an advantage in that power consumption of UE can be reduced.

In an embodiment for implementing the aforementioned methods, a method for performing, by pieces of UE, blind search (or decoding) on a specific resource region in order to obtain D2D control information at a specific point of time and decoding D2D control information matched with each of the pieces of UE is described below.

In this case, whether D2D control information is matched with each of the pieces of UE may be implemented based on UE-specific information or UE group-specific (UE group-common) information.

That is, only corresponding UE may perform (blind) decoding on D2D control information by applying UE-specific scrambling or CRC masking to the D2D control information, or all of a plurality of pieces of UE (or a group or all) may decode the D2D control information by applying UE-group common scrambling or CRC masking to the D2D control information.

Accordingly, UE or a UE group may obtain information related to D2D data demodulation from D2D control information that has been successfully decoded.

The D2D control information (or SCI) includes a parameter (in this case, including a parameter obtained through blind search from a given D2D control channel set in addition to a predetermined parameter) used in a D2D control channel (PSCCH) in addition to explicit information included in D2D control information.

The parameter used in the D2D control channel may include scrambling, CRC masking, use resource information, and reference signal related parameters.

Accordingly, UE may not perform blind decoding on D2D data.

In other words, UE or a UE group performs blind decoding on D2D control information through a specific parameter at a specific point of time using its own unique information or based on previously (higher-layer) signaled information in order to obtain the D2D control information.

Through such blind decoding, the UE or UE group may obtain both scheduling information related to data demodulation and various parameters used to generate and transmit a D2D control channel (or control information).

Accordingly, the UE or UE group uses the parameter related to the D2D control channel and the decoded scheduling information to decode and demodulate a D2D data channel.

In this case, the D2D data channel may be represented as a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

The scheduling information may refer to explicit information, such as resource allocation information, an NDI, an MCS, or a Tx UE ID required to demodulate D2 data.

Furthermore, as described above the scheduling information may be represented as Sidelink Control Information (SCI).

UE is not required to perform parameter blind search, such as that performed on a D2D control channel (or a PSCCH) with respect to a D2D data channel (PSSCH), because it uses a parameter through blind search with respect to the D2D control channel without any change or uses a new parameter generated based on the parameter to generate the D2D data channel.

In another embodiment, a D2D control channel and a D2D data channel may be transmitted in the same subframe (from the standpoint of UE or a UE group) or may be implemented to have different cycles in time.

That is, such a method is a method for performing, by UE, blind decoding on a D2D control channel in a specific subframe and demodulating the D2D data of the same subframe based on corresponding information.

In this case, it is assumed that the UE will not perform blind decoding on the D2D data.

Instead, the UE may perform blind decoding on only the D2D control channel so that blind decoding complexity is dependent on only a D2D control channel in a corresponding subframe.

That is, the UE performs blind decoding on only D2D control information in the corresponding subframe.

If UE has to perform blind decoding on D2D data, when D2D control information and D2D data are transmitted in the same subframe, a problem in that the UE′ blind decoding trials suddenly increases may be generated.

In this case, the number of pieces of UE capable of detecting D2D control information through blind decoding in a specific subframe may be limited.

That is, if the transmission periods of D2D control information and D2D data are fixed, there may be a case where the D2D control information and the D2D data are transmitted in the same subframe in some situations depending on their cycles.

In this case, if there is a limit to blind decoding trials in a corresponding subframe, the blind decoding trials of a D2D control information channel or a D2D data channel or both may be reduced.

In order to reduce such a problem, the blind decoding of UE may be introduced only in a D2D control channel so as to prevent a limitation to blind decoding trials attributable to a variation of blind decoding complexity.

Furthermore, there is an advantage that the degree of freedom of scheduling for a D2D data channel may be increased by introducing blind decoding in only a D2D control channel.

That is, although D2D control information and D2D data are placed in the same subframe, if blind decoding is applied to a D2D control channel only, there is no limitation to blind decoding complexity.

Accordingly, although a D2D control channel is periodically transmitted in a specific subframe, a subframe for transmitting a D2D data channel may be determined and allocated even without avoiding a subframe in which the D2D control channel is transmitted.

Assuming that a D2D control channel is detected once and then transmitted in a specific subframe after D2D data associated with the D2D control channel is transmitted, D2D control information does not need to be transmitted again in the transmission opportunity subframe (i.e., a D2D control channel transmission period or PSCCH period) of the D2D control channel during a time interval until a subframe in which the D2D data will be transmitted.

Likewise, from the standpoint of UE, blind decoding (or monitoring) may not be performed on a D2D control channel until a D2D data subframe indicated by D2D control information after blind decoding is performed on the D2D control channel.

In this case, power consumption of the UE can be reduced. This may be differently configured for each piece of UE.

If the period in which a D2D control channel is transmitted (or a PSCCH period) and a subframe offset are differently configured in each of pieces of UE, each of the pieces of UE may be aware of a subframe in which monitoring for D2D control information needs not to be performed.

That is, when each of pieces of UE performs blind decoding on D2D control information in a specific subframe, it may be aware how long it may perform discontinuous reception (DRX) or discontinuous transmission (DTX) by taking into consideration the monitoring subframe period and offset of its own D2D control information.

After receiving and demodulating D2D control information (i.e. scheduling allocation), UE may calculate how long it does not need to monitor D2D control information, that is, it may perform DTX, properly using a specific bit value and D2D control information subframe period (i.e., PSCCH period) information carried on corresponding subframe index, UE ID, or D2D control information.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 16, a C1 1601 is indicative of a resource that belongs to D2D resources allocated to UE 1 (or a UE-group 1) and that is used to transmit D2D control information.

The C1 1601 may be obtained through an (E-)PDCCH, an SIB, “preconfigured”, or “relaying by UE.”

For example, UE may obtain the C1 (or the SCI format 0) through the DCI format 5 transmitted through a PDCCH.

Furthermore, the period of the C1 corresponds to a period #1.

A C2 1602 is indicative of a resource that belongs to D2D resources allocated to UE 2 (or a UE-group 2) and that is used to transmit D2D control information.

The period of the C2 corresponds to a period #2.

The periods of the C1 and C2 may be represented as a PSCCH period #1 and a PSCCH period #2, respectively.

In FIG. 16, the first C1 information indicates a parameter related to the transmission of D2D data #1 1603 and indicates various types of information (e.g., scheduling information, such as a DM RS sequence, an MCS, and RA) for reception UE in order to demodulate the D2D data #1.

Furthermore, the first C2 information indicates a parameter related to the transmission of D2D data #2 1604 and indicates various types of information (e.g., scheduling information) for reception UE in order to demodulate the D2D data #2.

In FIG. 16, second C1 information 1605 and second C2 information 1086 indicate parameters (e.g., scheduling information) following the first D2D data #1 1603 and the first D2D data #2 1604, that is, parameters associated with second Data #1 and Data #2 1607.

Each of pieces of UE performs blind decoding on D2D control information, corresponding to each of pieces of UE, with respect to a corresponding subframe because it is previously aware of the location of a subframe for D2D control information where the UE may perform monitoring.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing another example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 17, UE may be aware that D2D data (D2D data #1) related to a C1 1701 is delivered in a D2D data #1 subframe 1702 by performing blind decoding on the C1 1701.

Furthermore, if the UE is previously aware that there is no C1 in a subframe 1703 periodically reserved (or allocated) for the purpose of transmitting D2D control information after the C1, the UE may skip the reserved subframe 1703 without performing monitoring or blind decoding.

That is, FIG. 17 shows that UE does not perform additional monitoring and blind decoding on D2D control information in a periodically reserved subframe present between the C1 and the data #1.

In this case, it may be considered that the UE performs a DTX operation in a specific subframe in order to reduce power consumption because it may be previously aware that it does not need to perform monitoring and blind decoding on D2D control information in the specific subframe.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing yet another example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D control information and D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the example of FIG. 17, UE has skipped blind decoding for all of subframes periodically reserved between the C1 and the data #1.

In contrast, FIG. 18 shows a method for skipping, by UE, a reserved D2D control information subframe from a monitoring subframe only when a previously agreed condition is satisfied without skipping blind decoding for all of reserved D2D control information subframes, if a D2D control information subframe reserved to transmit D2D control information is present between the D2D control information and a D2D data subframe indicated by the D2D control information.

From FIG. 18, it may be seen that UE performs blind decoding in a C11 1801 and a C13 1803 and skips blind decoding in a C12 1802.

That is, all of the monitoring subframes C11, C12, and C13 of candidate D2D control information between the C11 1801 and data #11 1804 are not skipped.

For example, the UE performs monitoring on the last subframe C13 1803 of the candidate subframes present between the C11 1801 and the data #11 1804 for blind decoding.

In some embodiments, if N D2D control information candidate subframes are present between a D2D control information (or scheduling information) subframe and a D2D data transmission subframe, blind decoding for K candidate subframes placed at the last portion may be skipped.

In this case, the value “k” may be set depending on a system operation.

In some embodiments, if a D2D control information subframe is divided into a subframe used for D2D transmission and a subframe used for D2D reception (i.e., if two types of subframes are present because they cannot be transmitted and received at the same time due to a half-duplex constraint), the blind decoding skip rule may be applied to only the subframe used for D2D transmission.

If there is no distinction between a subframe used for D2D transmission and a subframe used for D2D reception, the blind decoding skip rule may be applied by taking into consideration both the two types (D2D transmission and D2D reception) of subframes.

In some embodiments, if the valid period of D2D control information is present, assuming that additional D2D control information does not arrive during the valid period, UE may neglect D2D control information that arrives between a D2D control information subframe and a D2D data subframe, that is, may apply the blind decoding skip rule.

Furthermore, assuming that D2D control information subframes are used by a plurality of pieces of UE, each of the pieces of UE may calculate a subframe that belongs to the D2D control information subframes and that may be monitored using its own ID or another parameter, such as a D2D subframe index.

In this case, a method for calculating, by each of pieces of UE, its own D2D control information subframe may be performed like a method for calculating a paging subframe that may be monitored by the UE, that is, calculating the index of a subframe that must be received by the UE after waking up from sleep mode using a UE ID and another parameter.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a method for configuring D2D control information depending on D2D transmission mode, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 shows that some of resources allocated using each of two D2D resource allocation methods, that is, two types of transmission mode (transmission mode 1 and transmission mode 2), are configured as common resources if the two D2D resource allocation methods are used.

FIG. 19a shows the resource allocation of D2D control information in an in-coverage scenario, that is, transmission mode 1, and FIG. 19b shows the resource allocation of D2D control information in a partial or out-coverage scenario, that is, transmission mode 2.

The resource of control information in transmission mode 1 is indicated by C1 or C2, and the resource of control information in transmission mode 2 is indicated by P or S.

From FIG. 19, it may be seen that the resources C1 and P have been configured to be aligned in the same time resource or the same frequency resource or both.

That is, FIG. 19 shows that the resources C1 and P have been configured as common resources (e.g., cell-specific or UE group-specific).

In the resource configurations of FIG. 19, if UE changes a resource allocation method, it may use the common resource subframe as a fallback subframe in which a D2D control channel may be monitored.

That is, common resources configured using different resource allocation methods may mean candidate subframes in which UE is obliged to monitor D2D control information when mode of a resource allocation method switches.

Accordingly, pieces of UE to which resources have been allocated according to transmission mode 1 or pieces of UE to which resources have been allocated according to transmission mode 2 may need to perform blind decoding on the resource P or C1 corresponding to common resources.

In this case, pieces of UE within a cell may have different resource allocation methods, that is, different types of transmission mode. Resources may be configured so that one piece of UE has the two types of transmission mode.

Transmission mode 1 and transmission mode 2 do not mean only a resource allocation method for D2D communication, but may be concepts indicative of a resource allocation method for D2D discovery.

That is, from the standpoint of a piece of UE, a D2D discovery resource may be set as transmission mode 1 and a D2D communication resource may be set as transmission mode 2, and vice versa.

From the standpoint of a plurality of pieces of UE, transmission mode 1, transmission mode 2, D2D discovery, and D2D communication combinations may be configured in various ways.

In this case, previously designated UE (e.g., a UE group, all of types of UE within a cell, or all of types of D2D-enabled UE) may be defined to monitor a common resource set by defining the concept of a default resource set or common resource set in transmission mode 1 or transmission mode 2.

Timing relations between a Scheduling Grant (SG) (or DCI), Scheduling Assignment (SA), and D2D data transmission in D2D communication, which are proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention, are described in detail below.

A Scheduling Grant (SG) used hereinafter is indicative of Downlink Control Information (DCI) transmitted from an eNB to D2D UE and may mean a parameter related to D2D communication.

The scheduling grant may be transmitted in a PDCCH/EPDCCH and may be represented as a DCI format 5.

Furthermore, the Scheduling Assignment (SA) may be indicative of D2D control information and may mean control information transmitted and received between pieces of D2D UE, including resource allocation information for the transmission and reception of D2D data.

The Scheduling Assignment (SA) may be transmitted through a PSCCH and may be represented as an SCI format 0.

First, contents related to a method for notifying UE of a resource used for D2D data transmission and a resource used for Scheduling Assignment (SA) transmission for transmitting D2D data transmission-related scheduling information are described with reference to Table 5 below.

Furthermore, a method described with reference to Table 3 is only an embodiment, and D2D data transmission and SA transmission may be performed using methods other than the method of Table 5.

TABLE 5 Signaling methods Resource (or resource pool) indication methods (to be used for the following transmission) Being transmitted Resource For Scheduling For Data Allocation Scenarios Assignment communication Mode 1 In- SIB (or (E)PDCCH) SIB (or (E)PDCCH) (eNB coverage (This may be (This may be schedules) triggered by a D2D triggered by a D2D scheduling request scheduling request (D-SR)) (D-SR)) Edge-of- Via other Via other coverage forwarding UE(s) forwarding UE(s) SIB or other SIB or other sig. forwarding sig. forwarding Out- Pre-configured or Pre-configured or overage other other A semi-static resource pool restricting the available resources for data or control or both may be needed D2D communication capable UE shall support at least Mode 1 for in-coverage Mode 2 In- SIB (or (E)PDCCH) SIB (or (E)PDCCH) (UE coverage selects) Edge-of- Via other Via other coverage forwarding UE(s) forwarding UE(s) SIB or other SIB or other sig. forwarding sig. forwarding Out- Pre-configured or Pre-configured or coverage other other The resource pools for data and control may be the same A semi-static and/or pre-configured resource pool restricting the available resources for data or control or both may be needed D2D communication-capable UE shall support Mode 2 for at least edge-of-coverage and/or out-of-coverage

In Table 5, Mode 1 and Mode 2 in a D2D resource allocation method may be divided as follows.

From a transmitting UE perspective, UE may operate in the two types of mode for resource allocation:

Mode 1: an eNodeB or rel-10 relay node schedules exact resources used by UE to transmit direct data and direct control information

Mode 2: UE on its own selects resources from resource pools to transmit direct data and direct control information

Referring to Table 5, resource allocation used for SA transmission and D2D data to transmission in Mode 1 and Mode 2 may be implemented through an SIB in the case of the in-coverage scenario. That is, an eNB may notify UE of resource allocation for SA transmission and D2D data transmission through an SIB.

In some embodiments, scheduling allocation may be performed and data resources may be allocated using the dynamic control signal (e.g., a PDCCH, an EPDCCH, or a MAC CE) of an eNB.

In some embodiments, resource pools may be previously allocated through an SIB, and UE may be notified of (time-frequency resources) detailed resource allocation information (SA resources and D2D data resources) through a dynamic control signal within the allocated resource range.

In this case, the SA for direct communication may deliver the detailed resource allocation information (e.g., using relative location information or offset information) used in direct data communication.

That is, UE may receive SA and data resource pools through an SIB and may receive detailed SA and data transmission resources through the SA.

If a plurality of resource pools has been previously allocated to UE, SA may be used to indicate one or some of the allocated resource pools.

In Table 3, in the case of the out-coverage scenario, UE may be aware of SA resource pools and data resource pools based on resource configuration information that has been pre-configured or received from coverage UE.

In this case, if the UE has to determine detailed resources for SA transmission and D2D data transmission, it may autonomously select SA resources.

Thereafter, the UE may include resources allocated in relation to D2D data transmission in SA contents and transmit the SA contents to D2D reception UE so that the D2D reception UE is aware of a resource region in which D2D data is received.

In this case, in order to reduce information included in the SA contents, resource region information (e.g., time and frequency index) in which SA has been detected may be used as part of D2D data resource allocation information.

That is, the final resource region is calculated using both the SA resource-related information and the SA contents information.

For example, an SA (transmission) resource-related parameter may be used to obtain only time domain information (e.g., a time domain parameter and a subframe index) of a D2D data resource region, and information delivered in SA may be used to provide notification of frequency domain information (e.g., a frequency domain parameter and an RB index).

In some embodiments, the SA resource-related parameter may be used to designate the absolute locations (e.g., time and frequency indices) of D2D data resources, and resource allocation information included in SA contents may be used to provide notification of the relative locations of D2D data resources.

In some embodiments, the SA (transmission) resource-related parameter may be used to provide notification of a random back-off or transmission probability value.

Furthermore, signaling contents transmitted from an eNB to D2D transmission UE may include a resource configuration, an MCS, etc. for direct scheduling allocation.

The signaling contents may be represented as Downlink Control Information (DCI) or a Scheduling Grant (SG).

The timing relation between an eNB-dynamic control signal and an SA transmission time is described in detail below.

If a D2D resource pool is allocated through a System Information Block (SIB) and UE autonomously determines SA resources and resources for D2D data transmission based on the allocated D2D resource pool, an eNB-dynamic control signal, such as a PDCCH/EPDCCH, may not be required.

In a situation in which all resources are managed by an eNB as in the in-coverage scenario, however, if an eNB controls D2D SA and resource allocation for direct data in real time, the utilization of the resources may become further efficient. In this case, an eNB-dynamic control signal is necessary.

Accordingly, a method using an eNB-dynamic control signal (e.g., a scheduling grant or an MAC CE using DCI) and when D2D transmission UE that has received an eNB-dynamic control signal (i.e., an eNB scheduling grant for SA and/or data for D2D) will transmit SA to D2D reception UE need to be clearly defined.

As described above, an eNB may transmit an SG to D2D UE for (1) scheduling to regarding SA transmission and (2) scheduling regarding data transmission.

In this case, the scheduling may mean scheduling related to D2D transmission, and scheduling information may include resource allocation information, an MCS, an RV, and an NDI.

In some embodiments, an eNB may transmit a single SG to D2D UE in order to indicate whether it is scheduling regarding SA transmission or scheduling regarding D2D data transmission.

In this case, an implement may be possible so that an implicit association between SA and data is formed and D2D UE is capable of estimating each of pieces of (SA, data) scheduled information.

For example, D2D UE may receive an SG related to SA transmission from an eNB and check the location or approximate location of D2D data transmission resources having linkage to the SA (or the same is true of scheduling information).

In some embodiments, D2D UE may receive an SG related to data transmission from an eNB and check a resource location and relation information related to SA transmission having linkage to data.

A method 1 to a method 4 below shows timing relations between a dynamic control signal transmitted from an eNB to D2D transmission UE and SA transmitted from D2D transmission UE to D2D reception UE.

That is, the timing relation between the reception of a Scheduling Grant (DCI) from an eNB and the transmission of Scheduling Assignment (SA) or data or both from D2D transmission UE to D2D reception UE is described in detail below in connection with the method 1 to the method 4.

Method 1

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing relationship between SG reception and SA transmission in a D2D UE proposed in this specification.

FIG. 20 shows that, if D2D SA (scheduling assignment) SFs (subframes) 2001 and 2002 are periodically configured, when a D2D transmission UE receives a scheduling grant (SG) from an eNB during the D2D SA SF period (or PSCCH period) (S2010), the D2D transmission UE transmits a scheduling assignment in the first D2D SA SF 2002 that comes after the received SG SF (S2020).

Method 2

FIGS. 21 and 22 are a flowchart illustrating an example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows a method for transmitting, by D2D transmission UE, SA to D2D reception UE by taking into consideration the processing time of UE (or a system) after receiving an SG from an eNB.

That is, the D2D transmission UE receives SG from the eNB, configures an SA based on the received SG, and transmits the SA to the D2D reception UE by taking into consideration the time taken to transmit the SA, that is, processing delay.

In this case, if the processing delay is taken into consideration, the SA transmission of the D2D transmission UE may be performed in a fourth subframe # n+4 after an SG subframe (subframe # n) received from the eNB.

That is, when D2D transmission UE receives an SG in a subframe # n at step S2101, it may transmit SA to D2D reception UE in a fourth subframe # n+4 2101 at step S2102.

In this case, if the fourth subframe # n+4 2201 is not a D2D SA subframe, the D2D transmission UE may transmit the SG in a D2D SA subframe 2202 that first arrives after the fourth subframe # n+4.

In contrast, if the D2D transmission UE receives the SG from the eNB in the subframe # n and a D2D SA SF that first arrives subsequently is present in the fourth subframe # n+4, the D2D transmission UE determines that the D2D SA SF is not valid or available.

Accordingly, the D2D transmission UE transmits the D2D SA in a subsequent (or next period) available D2D SA SF.

The n+4 is an embodiment and may be generalized as “n+k”, that is, D2D SA is transmitted in a k-th SA SF after the SG is received.

The value “k” may be configured by taking into consideration the development of the future technology, performance of UE and so on.

Furthermore, the value “k” may be differently configured for each piece of UE depending on the capability of the UE.

FIG. 21 shows an example of a method for transmitting SA in a subframe # n+k, and FIG. 22 shows an example of a method for transmitting SA in an SA SF that is first reaches after a subframe # n+k.

In relation to the configuration of the value “k”, it is different from an LTE (-A) system in that resources are not explicitly allocated, but a D2D resource pool is determined. In this case, resources are selected and transmitted, and different values are configured between pieces of UE if a collision between resources is permitted.

The method of FIGS. 21 and 22 may be identically applied to D2D data transmission.

That is, when D2D UE receives control information (or scheduling information) related to D2D data transmission from an eNB in a subframe n, the D2D UE may transmit D2D data in a subframe n+k′ by taking into consideration the processing time of the D2D UE.

The control information related to the D2D data transmission may be an SG or SA related to the resource allocation of the D2D data transmission.

The k′ value may be configured differently from a value “k” at an SA transmission time point.

In general, a k′> (or =) k relation may be established by taking into consideration a probability that D2D data transmission may occur a bit later.

Method 3

An operation when SA SFs are configured as a group, that is, a plurality of SFs is allocated for SA and operated, is described below.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing another example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which are proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 shows a method for transmitting, by D2D transmission UE, SA to D2D reception UE in the first SA SF after a subframe n+4 when it receives an SG (or resource allocation DCI) from an eNB in a subframe SF # n.

In this case, if the first SA SF after the subframe n+4 is a group of M contiguous SA SFs, when the D2D transmission UE receives the SG in the subframe SF # n at step S2310, it transmits the SA in the SA SF group that is first met after the subframe n+4 at step S2330.

What the SA will be transmitted in which one of the M SFs of the SA SF group may be finally aware through the SG at step S2320.

Furthermore, if an SA or data transmission subframe (SF) includes a plurality of subframes, a specific bit (or specific field) of a DCI format may be used to determine the location of the SA or data transmission subframe.

For example, a bit to determine the DCI formats 0/1, a hopping bit, or some of or all of RA bits may be used to determine the location of the SA or data transmission subframe.

Furthermore, the SG may be divided for SA and data purposes and may be further divided for special purposes, if necessary.

Accordingly, a bit to determine the DCI formats 0/1, a hopping bit, or some of or all of RA bits may be used to divide the purposes of an SG.

Method 4

A method for providing notification of the location of an SA SF through Radio Resource Control (RRC) is described below.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing yet another example of the timing relation between SG reception and SA transmission in D2D UE, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 shows a method of previously providing notification of the location of an SA SF through RRC at step S2410 and simply using an SG (e.g., PDCCH DCI) as an activation purpose in which the SA SF may be used at step S2420.

In this case, a special index may be defined so that an association between RRC signaling and activation DCI may be checked.

That is, DCI indicative of the activation of an SA SF may be defined to denote the RRC of which index.

DCI, that is, an SG, accurately indicates the activation of an SA SF or SF set transmitted through RRC. In this case, an RRC set including a series of indices mapped to the DCI may be previously designated.

Furthermore, D2D transmission UE transmits SA to D2D reception UE through the SA SF whose activation has been indicated by the SG at step S2430.

A method for providing notification of the time location of SA resources or D2D data resources or both through the RRC signaling of FIG. 24 is described in detail later.

The timing relation between SA transmission and D2D data transmission in D2D UE, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention, is described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 26 to 28.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Regarding the timing between a D2D SA SF and a D2D data SF, D2D data may be implicitly transmitted and received according to a predetermined rule.

FIG. 25 shows a method for transmitting, by D2D transmission UE, SA to D2D reception UE in a subframe # n at step S2510 and transmitting D2D data to the D2D reception UE in an available D2D data SF 2501 that first arrives after a subframe “n+k” at step S2520, as in the timing relation between SG transmission and SA transmission.

Likewise, the value “k” is configurable and a different value “k” may be configured for each piece of UE.

Furthermore, as in the timing relation between SG transmission and SA transmission, UE may be notified of an available D2D data SF group, and a specific SF (e.g., a subframe # m) within the D2D data SF group may be separately indicated.

In this case, a parameter “k” indicative of the specific SF may be included in SA contents.

The value “k” of the indication parameter may be differently interpreted depending on the following conditions.

That is, the value “k” of the indication parameter may be differently interpreted depending on each pieces of UE, the location of a resource region, a UE group or the scenario (i.e., in-coverage, out-coverage, and edge-of-coverage) or both.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing another example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which are proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Unlike in the method of FIG. 25, FIG. 26 shows a method for transmitting a D2D data SF within “n+k” (2601) at step S2620 when a D2D SA SF is determined (a subframe # n) at step S2610.

In this case, although D2D data is transmitted in a subframe right after the D2D SA SF, there is no problem if UE is previously notified of such a fact.

In this case, D2D reception UE may decode the D2D data by preparing data SF buffering received subsequently along with SA SF buffering by taking into consideration the processing time (or processing latency).

In this case, the value “k” is configurable and may be differently configured for each piece of UE.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing yet another example of the timing relation between D2D SA transmission and D2D data transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, FIG. 27 shows a method for directly indicating a D2D data SF explicitly through SA.

Assuming that D2D reception UE receives SA in a subframe # n at step S2710, D2D transmission UE may calculate a value “k” based on some of SA contents or an SA transmission resource parameter and explicitly notify the D2D reception UE of the calculated value “k” in a subframe # n+k in which D2D data is received at step S2720.

A method for transmitting D2D data related to the valid period of SA contents is described below.

SA contents may indicate an MCS value, whether frequency hopping has been applied, and SA information to or in which resource allocation related to frequency hopping has been applied or configured in a resource region for SA transmission.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for transmitting and receiving D2D data, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the method of FIG. 28, if a D2D SA SF is periodically configured, it is assumed that D2D data between SA SF transmission periods is transmitted using the same SA value.

In this case, D2D reception UE that receives D2D data may receive a plurality of D2D data through the SA value once received from D2D transmission UE.

That is, the D2D reception UE may determine that the same one SA value is applied to multiple data subframes.

Referring to FIG. 28, the D2D reception UE receives SA from the D2D transmission UE through a periodically configured SA subframe at step S2810.

The D2D reception UE receives at least one D2D data from the D2D transmission UE using the received SA for a specific time interval at step S2820.

The specific time interval may be an SA period or SA contents valid time interval in which the SA has been received.

The SA contents valid time interval may be previously determined, may be simply defined as an SF index, or may be defined as a multiple of an SA SF period.

Furthermore, the SA contents valid time interval may be defined as a combination of an SA SF and a normal SF or may be defined as a D2D data SF period or a multiple of the D2D data SF period.

In this case, the SF may mean a normal SF index or a D2D SF index.

In this case, if a plurality of D2D data is present for the specific time interval, the SA includes resource allocation information related to the plurality of D2D data.

That is, the D2D reception UE may receive a plurality of D2D data based on the SA received at step S2810 even without additionally receiving SA for the specific time interval.

In another embodiment, D2D control information may be separated from control information transmitted through SA and control information embedded (or included) in D2D data and transmitted.

That is, (1) control information, such as RA or an MCS, and (2) control information, such as an NDI, may be separated through direct SA and direct data, respectively, based on the attributes of the control information and transmitted.

FIGS. 29 to 32 are diagrams showing examples of methods for providing notification of the locations of SA resources or D2D data resources or both, which are proposed according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 29 and 30 show methods for transmitting and receiving SA or D2D data or both using a subframe pattern in which SA resources or D2D data resources or both may be transmitted and received.

A subframe pattern in which the SA resources or the D2D data resources or both may be transmitted and received may be represented as a Resource Pattern for Transmission (RPT).

The RPT means time resources or frequency resources or both for guaranteeing a plurality of transmission opportunities for D2D data Transport Blocks (TBs).

Accordingly, the RPT may be divided into a Time-RPT (T-RPT) and a Frequency RPT (F-RPT).

Specifically, FIG. 29 shows a method for explicitly notifying D2D UE of a subframe pattern related to SA resources or D2D data resources or both. FIG. 30 shows a method for implicitly transmitting a subframe pattern related to SA resources or D2D data resources or both to D2D UE.

UE uses some of all of UL subframes as D2D subframes.

That is, the UE performs communication with an eNB in the remaining UL subframes other than the D2D subframes.

Accordingly, eNB-to-UE transmission and the transmission of D2D Tx UE-D2D Rx UE are not generated at the same time.

If UE transmits a D2D signal to another UE in a D2D subframe, it may not receive a D2D signal from another UE in the same band of the D2D subframe. The reason for this is that the D2D signal transmitted by the UE is greatly subjected to strong interference when the UE receives a D2D signal from another UE.

In order to solve such a problem, a subframe pattern (or configuration) between a D2D transmission subframe in which a D2D signal is transmitted and a D2D reception subframe in which a D2D signal is received may be differently configured.

Furthermore, in order to solve an interference problem attributable to the transmission and reception of D2D signals by one UE and to reduce interference between two pieces of adjacent UE by reducing a probability that the two pieces of UE use redundant time resources at the same time, the patterns of subframes in which the two pieces of UE transmit D2D signals may be differently configured.

Specifically, an eNB can solve an interference problem which may be generated between pieces of UE by configuring a subframe pattern to be used for D2D transmission by each of the pieces of UE by taking into consideration the distance between the pieces of UE (by checking the degree of mutual interference).

In this case, the eNB explicitly notifies D2D UE of D2D transmission subframe patterns 2910 through high layer signaling, such as RRC signaling.

In this case, the eNB may dynamically configure the D2D transmission subframe pattern in the D2D UE through an EPDCCH or a PDCCH. That is, if a D2D transmission subframe pattern is transmitted to D2D UE through an EPDCCH or PDCCH, there is an advantage in that the D2D transmission subframe pattern can be configured by rapidly handling a change of the location of UE.

According to another method, in order to reduce a signaling burden of an eNB, the eNB may not determine a D2D (transmission) subframe pattern and notify UE of the D2D (transmission) subframe, but the UE may autonomously select a required D2D (transmission) subframe pattern.

That is, such a method is a method for implicitly obtaining, by D2D UE, a D2D subframe pattern.

In this case, the D2D UE may select the D2D subframe pattern using a similar random method based on its own UE ID (or a UE-specific parameter having a similar characteristic).

In some embodiments, D2D UE may receive minimum signaling information from an eNB and select a subframe pattern using a similar random method using the minimum signaling information as a factor for determining a similar random value.

If such an implicit subframe pattern selection method is used, the aforementioned interference between pieces of UE can be reduced because proper subframe patterns (or subframe sets) are given and a subframe pattern is randomly selected from the proper subframe patterns (or subframe sets).

As shown in FIG. 29, an eNB may deliver the candidate group 2910 of subframe patterns related to D2D transmission, which may be potentially used by specific UE, through high layer signaling, such as RRC signaling, and transmit (or designate) one or more subframe patterns 2920 to be actually used for D2D transmission at a specific point of time through an Enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) or a PDCCH.

Specifically, the eNB transmits previously defined N subframe patterns, that is, a candidate group of N subframe patterns (e.g., a subframe pattern #0, a subframe pattern #1, a subframe pattern #2, . . . , ), to D2D UE through high layer signaling, such as RRC signaling.

Thereafter, the eNB specifies one or more of the N subframe patterns 2910 as a D2D transmission subframe pattern 2920 and transmits the D2D transmission subframe pattern 3020 to the D2D UE through a PDCCH or an EPDCCH.

In this case, in the process for transmitting the previously defined N subframe patterns to the D2D UE, the eNB may assign that the actual pattern of the subframe pattern # k (k=0, 1, 2, . . . , ) has what form in the bitmap form of a subframe which is repeated in a specific cycle, for example, an SF pattern #0 (10001010) or an SF pattern #1 (00111001).

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 30, the eNB may transmit the candidate group 3010 of subframe patterns related to D2D transmission, which may be potentially used, to specific UE through high layer signaling, such as RRC signaling. D2D UE that has received the candidate group 3010 may select the subframe pattern 3020 to be used for actual transmission at a specific point of time using a UE identification parameter (e.g., a UE ID 3010).

In this case, the UE identification parameter (or seed) 3110 may be previously allocated by the eNB.

Thereafter, the D2D UE may perform D2D transmission and reception through the selected subframe pattern.

FIGS. 31 and 32 are diagrams showing examples of methods for changing a subframe pattern related to SA resources or D2D data resources or both, which are proposed according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 31 shows a method for explicitly providing notification of a changed subframe pattern, and FIG. 32 shows a method for implicitly providing notification of a changed subframe pattern.

FIGS. 31 and 32 show operations for changing, by D2D UE, a subframe pattern allocated thereto using the methods of FIGS. 29 and 30.

FIGS. 31 and 32 show a subframe pattern repeated in a cycle of 8 ms (i.e., 8 subframes). An eNB may previously transmit a subframe pattern #0{10001010} and a subframe pattern #1 {00111001} 3110 to D2D UE through high layer signaling.

In this case, the value “1” is a subframe related to D2D transmission, and it means that a signal related to D2D transmission may be transmitted and received in a corresponding subframe.

Furthermore, the value “0” is a subframe not related to D2D transmission, and this means that a signal related to D2D transmission may not be transmitted and received in a corresponding subframe.

The meanings of the value “0” and the value “1” may be reversed.

Thereafter, the eNB designates a D2D subframe pattern (e.g., an SF pattern #0 3120) that will be actually used by D2D UE through a PDCCH. The D2D UE operates based on the designated D2D subframe pattern.

Thereafter, the eNB transmits D2D subframe pattern change information 3130, providing notification of a changed D2D subframe pattern, to the D2D UE through a PDCCH (or another piece of control information or another message or RRC signaling) if the D2D subframe pattern has been changed.

The D2D subframe pattern change information may designate a changed subframe pattern using some fields within a PDCCH or EPDCCH.

If existing DCI for an UL grant is reused for DCI for D2D, it may be used as subframe pattern change information to designate a changed subframe pattern using a field that belongs to DCI fields and that is not used.

The field that belongs to the DCI fields and that is not used may include an indicator to determine the DCI formats 0/1A, a CQI request field, and an NDI field.

Some of a DM RS cyclic shift field or MCS/RV field using a plurality of bits may be used.

If resources for SA transmission and resources for D2D data transmission are designated to UE through a single PDCCH or EPDCCH at the same time, a subframe pattern for the SA and a subframe pattern for the D2D data may be allocated to respective states designated by the fields within the DCI.

In the method of FIG. 32, D2D UE may randomly select a D2D subframe pattern (e.g., an SF pattern #0 3220) that belongs to the candidate group of D2D subframe patterns and that will be actually used using a UE ID and operate based on the selected D2D subframe pattern.

In this case, an eNB may transmit a D2D subframe pattern (change) indicator, indicating that a D2D subframe pattern has been changed, to the D2D UE through a PDCCH (or another piece of control information or another message or RRC signaling).

In this case, the D2D UE may randomly reselect a D2D subframe pattern (e.g., an SF pattern #1 3230) using a pseudo-random selection parameter (seed, a D2D UE identification parameter) using a UE ID.

In this case, the eNB may previously notify the D2D UE of the UE ID through RRC signaling.

That is, if the D2D UE selects or reselects a subframe pattern using a similar random method, the eNB may previously deliver a parameter or seed value for determining a similar random value to the D2D UE.

Furthermore, the D2D UE may determine the index of a D2D transmission subframe using a similar random value without a pattern.

In this case, the eNB may deliver a parameter or seed value to determine the similar random value to the D2D UE.

Furthermore, the D2D UE may determine a subframe pattern or the index of a subframe based on only signaling information for determining such a similar random value. A unique value of the D2D UE may be included in the signaling information, and the subframe pattern or the index of the subframe may be determined.

By way of example, a method for obtaining, by D2D reception UE, the transmission bandwidth of SA in order to detect the SA transmitted by D2D transmission UE is described below.

In this case, the transmission bandwidth of the SA may be previously fixed so that the D2D reception UE is aware of the transmission bandwidth of the SA.

In this case, a portion that belongs to a resource allocation field included in an SG and that corresponds to the number of allocated RBs may be fixed as a predetermined value, such as “0”, or may be defined as the previously fixed transmission bandwidth of SA.

A field (or bits) included in the SG related to the transmission bandwidth of the SA may be used for other purposes (e.g., for the purpose of designating the location of an actual SA SF within an SA SF group) in addition to the transmission bandwidth of SA.

The UE scheduling of eNB-to-D2D transmission (Tx) (and/or D2D reception (Rx)) for D2D transmission is described below.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the eNB performs a Scheduling Grant (SG) procedure along with D2D transmission (Tx) UE or D2D reception (Rx) UE (Step #1, S3310).

That is, the eNB transmits an SG related to D2D transmission to the D2D Tx UE or the D2D Rx UE.

The SG procedure (Step #1) may be basically divided into the following two methods.

(1) The first method Method #1 is a method for allocating D2D transmission-related resources through RRC signaling and then dynamically controlling a detailed operation, such as the activation/release of the allocated resource, through a physical/MAC control channel (e.g., a PDCCH).

(2) The second method Method #2 is a method for controlling a D2D operation by transmitting resource allocation related to D2D transmission or scheduling information related to D2D transmission or both through a physical/MAC control channel.

In the methods (1) and (2), the D2D UE may receive scheduling information (e.g., an MCS, an RV, or a DM RS parameter) related to D2D communication from the eNB and determine D2D transmission-related resources based on the scheduling information, or the D2D UE may autonomously determine a D2D transmission-related resource.

Resource allocation information may be included in the scheduling information, and the scheduling information and the resource allocation information may be separately interpreted.

If the D2D UE receives scheduling information related to D2D transmission from the eNB according to the method (1), it may receive the scheduling information through an RRC signal or a control channel, such as a PDCCH, or both.

In this case, if the D2D UE receives the scheduling information from the eNB through RRC signaling, the DCI format of the PDCCH may not include fields, such as an MCS, RV, and DM RS parameter related to D2D transmission.

Accordingly, if fields related to D2D transmission are defined to be included in the DCI format of a PDCCH, a total length of the DCI format may be reduced by obviating the unnecessary fields or a DCI format may become a DCI format having the same length by applying a technology, such as zero padding and transmitted.

Likewise, if the D2D UE directly determines scheduling information, such as an MCS or an RV, contents fields related to scheduling information, such as an MCS and an RV, are not required in a PDCCH transmitted in the method (1) or (2).

Accordingly, a method for obviating the unnecessary fields or applying the zero padding may be adopted.

The method (1) is described in more detail later with reference to FIG. 34, and the method (2) is described in more detail later with reference to FIG. 35.

Thereafter, the D2D transmission UE performs a scheduling procedure related to D2D data transmission for the transmission and reception of D2D data along with the D2D reception UE (Step #2, S3320). That is, the D2D transmission UE performs an SA transmission procedure.

Step #2 may be used along with the methods used in Step #1.

In this case, pieces of information which may be included in SA may be as follows. In particular, pieces of information related to resources for D2D data reception may be included in the SA.

Scheduling information (including resource allocation information) related to SA transmission may be construed as being transmitted from the eNB to the D2D transmission UE (through an SG). The SA transmission may be construed as being transmitted from the D2D transmission UE to the D2D reception UE.

-   -   Information related to resources for data reception: information         related to resources for D2D data reception     -   RB allocation: RB allocation information     -   Number and pattern of retransmissions: information about the         number and pattern of retransmissions     -   Frequency hopping pattern: information about a frequency hopping         pattern     -   SPS (including periodicity) of data: information about the         periodicity of data     -   Target ID: ID information of D2D reception UE     -   MCS/RV of data     -   Timing advance of data

A method for receiving, by D2D transmission UE, an SG from an eNB and determining a point of time at which the D2D transmission (Tx) UE transmits SA to D2D reception (Rx) UE is described below.

The received SG may include scheduling information (including resource allocation information) related to the SA.

First, it is assumed that the eNB is aware of a D2D transmission subframe in which the D2D transmission UE may transmit the SA.

The eNB transmits the SG to the D2D transmission UE in an n−k1 (k1 is an integer) subframe of an SA transmission subframe(n), so the D2D transmission UE may transmit the SA to the D2D reception UE.

The value “k1” may be about 4 when the receive processing capability of UE is taken into consideration in an LTE (-A) system.

The value “k1” may be 2 or 3 according to the evolution of the technology.

The D2D transmission UE that has received the SG may also check the location of a D2D data transmission subframe through the received SG.

That is, the SG may be used for SA scheduling and also for a point of time (subframe) at which D2D data is transmitted and frequency resource allocation, which involve D2D data transmission.

A method for receiving, by D2D transmission UE, an SG from an eNB and transmitting SA to D2D reception UE in a SA transmission-valid resource after a specific time is described below.

The received SG may include scheduling information related to SA transmission.

The eNB transmits the SG to the D2D transmission UE based on a point of time at which D2D transmission resources were requested from the D2D transmission UE without checking an SA transmission valid subframe in detail.

That is, when the D2D transmission UE receives the SG from the eNB, it generates SA based on the received SG.

Thereafter, the D2D transmission UE checks an SA-available subframe in which the generated SA may be transmitted and transmits the generated SA to the D2D reception UE in an available or valid D2D subframe (i.e., a subframe valid from an SA transmission viewpoint).

In this case, the D2D transmission UE receives the SG from the eNB, but may not immediately transmit the SA to the D2D reception UE although a next subframe is available.

The reason for this is that time corresponding to “n+k2” is required in order for the D2D transmission UE to receive the SG, perform reception processing, generates SA using the SG, that is, information related to the received SA, and prepare D2D data transmission.

In this case, k2 has an integer value. The value “k2” may be 2 or 3 according to the evolution of the technology. That is, the value “k2” may have various values, such as 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on the reception capability of UE.

If k2=4, the D2D transmission UE receives an SG from the eNB and transmits SA to the D2D reception UE after 4 subframes.

If there is no available subframe for the SA transmission right after the 4 subframes, the D2D transmission UE transmits the SA to the D2D reception UE in a next subframe.

If a next available subframe is not present, the D2D transmission UE may transmit the SA to the D2D reception UE in a next subframe.

That is, it may be interpreted that the SA is transmitted in the earliest SA-available subframe of subframes subsequent to a subframe n+4.

In this case, all of subframes not designated as D2D transmission may correspond to a subframe in which SA transmission is impossible.

In some embodiments, a subframe in which a synchronization signal is transmitted, such as subframes 0 and 5, may be excluded from the SA-available subframe.

In some embodiments, a subframe in which a paging subframe is transmitted, such as subframes 0, 4, 5, and 9, may also be excluded from the SA-available subframe.

In this case, although a specific D2D subframe (e.g., a WAN synchronization signal and a channel similar to a BCH) has been designated as a D2D subframe, if a channel for delivering D2D-essential information is determined in a specific D2D subframe, the specific D2D subframe may be excluded from the SA-available subframe.

In some embodiments, a dedicated subframe for SA transmission may have been configured, and SA may be transmitted only in such an SA-dedicated subframe.

That is, the D2D transmission UE receives the SG from the eNB (in a subframe n) and may transmit the SA to the D2D reception UE in an SA (transmission)-available subframe after n+k3 subframes.

In this case, the D2D UE which has received the SG may also check the location of a data transmission subframe. That is, the SG may also be used for a point of time (subframe) at which data is transmitted and frequency resource allocation, involving data transmission, in addition to SA scheduling.

Thereafter, the D2D transmission UE transmits D2D data to the D2D reception UE based on the SA (Step #3, S3330).

In this case, the D2D transmission UE may transmit required control information along with the D2D data.

The control information may be transmitted in a piggyback form along with the D2D data.

The validity of SG is described below.

If D2D UE receives an SG1 from an eNB and then receives an SG2 from the eNB, the D2D UE may determine that the received SG1 is no longer valid.

A point of time at which the validity of SG is determined may be applied after an n+k4 subframe since a subsequent transmitted SG, that is, since the SG2 is received (in a subframe n).

In this case, the value “k4” is an integer. If a point of time at which the SG2 may be applied is taken into consideration, the value “k4” may have a value of 2, 3, or 4.

Furthermore, the eNB may transmit the SG1 and the SG2 to the D2D UE at the same time.

In this case, the SG1 and the SG2 may be merged into a single DCI format and transmitted.

If separate channel coding is performed on each of the SG2 and SG2, a probability that the D2D UE may successfully receive each SG may be increased.

As described above, the D2D UE may feed the results of the reception of each SG back to the eNB and use a PUCCH as a channel for feeding the results of the reception of each SG back.

Furthermore, control of transmission power of the D2D UE may be implemented through the SG.

In this case, the eNB may control transmission power of the D2D UE by transmitting a TPC command to the D2D UE using a TPC field or the DCI formats 3/3A.

If the DCI formats 3/3A are used, the eNB may reserve a specific field of a corresponding format for D2D power control and use the correspond format.

This may be previously partitioned that it is for D2D power control or for LTE (-A) power control through RRC signaling.

Furthermore, a valid time when the SG is available may be determined.

That is, after a lapse of a specific time (or a specific number of subframes) or after a specific number of D2D subframes since the D2D UE receives the SG from the eNB, the D2D UE may automatically discard the received SG.

In some embodiments, an SG timer may be newly defined. When the SG timer expires, an SG may be considered to be invalid.

In some embodiments, a previous SG may be defined to be valid until the D2D UE receives a next SG.

In some embodiments, after receiving an SG, the D2D UE discards the received SG after a specific time or a specific number of subframes. If another SG has been previously received from the eNB, the D2D UE may discard the previously received SG although a specific time elapses.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission using RRC signaling, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, FIG. 34 shows a detailed method of step S3310 in FIG. 33.

Steps S3420 and S3430 of FIG. 34 are the same as steps S3320 and S3330 of FIG. 33, and thus only differences between them are described below.

First, an eNB performs a Scheduling Grant (SG) procedure along with D2D Tx UE or D2D Rx UE (Step #1, S3410).

As described above with reference to FIG. 33, step S3410 may be implemented through two methods.

(1) The first method Method #1 is a method for allocating D2D transmission-related resources through RRC signaling and additionally controlling a detailed dynamic operation for the allocated resources, such as activation/release, through a physical/MAC control channel (e.g., a PDCCH).

(2) The second method Method #2 is a method for controlling a D2D operation by transmitting resource allocation and/or scheduling information related to D2D transmission through a physical/MAC control channel.

The method Method #1 of (1), that is, scheduling (e.g., semi-static scheduling) for SA (and data) based on an RRC signal and a dynamic control signal (e.g., an (E)PDCCH or a PHICH), is described in more detail below.

The method (1) may be divided into 1) RRC signaling transmission for overall resource configuration/allocation for SA (and/or data) transmission S3411 and 2) a dynamic control information transmission (S3412) method for the activation/release of SA (and data) resources allocated through 1).

First, RRC signaling transmission is described.

RRC Signaling: Overall Resource Configuration/Allocation for SA (and Data)

As in an LTE Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) scheduling method, an eNB allocates a specific resource region (or a specific resource set/group) related to D2D transmission to D2D UE through RRC signaling.

Furthermore, the eNB may allocate a monitoring resource for D2D reception to the D2D UE in a similar way.

The specific resource region may be a subframe(s) or a set of resource blocks.

Accordingly, the D2D UE may perform blind demodulation (or blind decoding) on D2D data or SA by monitoring the specific resource region.

The monitoring resource may mean a resource that provides notification of monitoring so that the D2D UE performs blind decoding on SA or D2D data (Tx-to-Rx for D2D) or both.

The meaning of “A and/or B” used in an embodiment of the present invention may be construed as having the same concept including at least one (A, B, and A&B) of A and B.

The method (1) may be used to provide notification of a data resource region, that is, for D2D data scheduling in addition to SA scheduling.

That is, the method (1) means an operation for allocating resources related to D2D transmission through RRC and dynamically activating or releasing the resources using a physical layer and an MAC layer control channel, like Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS).

For more detailed contents of the operation, reference may be made to FIGS. 28 to 32.

Thereafter, steps S3420 and S3430 are performed.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an example of a UE scheduling method for D2D transmission using a physical layer channel, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, FIG. 35 shows a detailed method of step S3310 in FIG. 33.

Steps S3520 and S3530 of FIG. 35 are the same as steps S3320 and S3330 of FIG. 33, and thus only differences between them are described below.

First, an eNB performs a scheduling grant procedure along with D2D Tx UE or D2D Rx UE (Step #1, S3510).

Likewise, Step #1 may be implemented through two methods.

(1) The first method Method #1 is a method for allocating D2D transmission-related resources through RRC signaling and additionally controlling a detailed dynamic operation for the allocated resources, such as activation/release, through a physical/MAC control channel (e.g., a PDCCH).

(2) The second method Method #2 is a method for controlling a D2D operation by transmitting resource allocation and/or scheduling information related to D2D transmission through a physical/MAC control channel.

The meaning of “A and/or B” used in an embodiment of the present invention may be construed as having the same concept including at least one of A and B.

The method (2), that is, an (Enhanced) PDCCH transmission method based on dynamic scheduling, is described below with reference to FIG. 35.

The method (2) refers to a method for notifying the D2D Tx UE (or the D2D Rx UE or both) of an MCS, an RV, an NDI, power control and/or a PMI for D2D data demodulation in addition to resource allocation using a channel (e.g., an EPDCCH, PDCCH, PHICH, or new channel) for delivering control information in a physical layer (or including an MAC layer) instead of transmitting scheduling information (including resource allocation) related to D2D transmission through RRC (S3511).

The resource allocation, MCS, RV, NDI, power control, or PMI may be called to scheduling information related to D2D transmission.

Furthermore, the use of SG may be variously defined in addition to the aforementioned uses.

For example, the SG may be used to provide notification that the contents of scheduling information related to D2D transmission have been changed.

The meaning of the change includes a modification, deletion, and addition.

In this case, there are a case where the same signaling format as that of the SG is used and a case where a signaling format different from that of the SG is used.

Scheduling information included in the SG may mean a change of a D2D transmission-related resource region in which RC signaling has been designated, a change of resources that need to be used by the D2D Tx UE (or the D2D Rx UE or both) in a corresponding resource region, a change of a resource region substantially allocated by the SG, a change of a resource region group, or a change of some of or all of SA contents.

The SA contents include a variety of types of scheduling information in addition to RA. The D2D Tx UE (or the D2D Rx UE or both) is notified of a change of the contents of one or more of the variety of types of scheduling information, including the RA, through the SG.

The eNB may generate a new SG of a compact type by reducing the bit field of the SG and use the new SG.

Furthermore, as in resource reallocation related to D2D transmission, a method for implementing SG/SA updates includes using a PHICH in addition to a PDCCH and an EPDCCH.

That is, the eNB may use PHICH resources to notify the D2D UE whether there is a change of an SG/SA.

The D2D UE may monitor a PHICH including information indicative of a change of an SG/SA and receive the changed SG/SA.

The D2D UE receives a modified SG/SA after a time previously designated by the eNB or in a previously designated time interval through an SG/SA modification notification.

In this case, the modification notification may have two meanings.

The first meaning is that the D2D UE is notified that SA will be changed and the D2D UE needs to receive the changed SA by monitoring an SG in order to be aware of the changed SA.

The second meaning is that the D2D UE is notified that an SG has been changed or will be changed at a specific predetermined point of time and thus the D2D UE needs to receive the SG that has been changed or will be changed.

As described above, the SG may be used for data scheduling in addition to SA scheduling.

Thereafter, steps S3520 and S3530 are performed.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for performing an HARQ procedure for an SG, which is proposed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Steps of S3610, S3630, and S3640 of FIG. 36 are the same as steps S3310 to S3330 of FIG. 33, and thus only differences between them are described below.

After step S3610, D2D UE and an eNB performs an SG Hybrid Automatic Retransmission reQuest (HARQ) procedure at step S3620.

That is, the D2D UE may transmit a response to a received SG to the eNB between a point of time at which the D2D UE receives the SG from the eNB and a point of time at which the D2D UE transmits SA to another D2D UE. The response may be ACK or NACK.

As described above, the SG may be control information or resource allocation information related to the SA or the D2D data transmission or both, as in the activation/deactivation of allocated resources in SPS.

The control information or resource allocation information related to the SA or the D2D data transmission or both may be indicated as scheduling information related to D2D transmission.

The SG HARQ procedure in step S3620 can prevent the deterioration of performance or the generation of a situation in which communication is impossible, which is generated because the D2D UE does not transmit SA to another D2D UE or does not apply a change of SA contents that have already been transmitted and thus continues to transmit the SA prior to the change if the D2D UE does not receive the SG from the eNB.

Accordingly, there is a need for confirmation regarding whether an SG has been received. In this case, an UL ACK/NACK mechanism may be used.

That is, the D2D UE may transmit a response (i.e., ACK or NACK) to the SG to the eNB using an existing PUCCH structure or in an existing embedded PUCCH to PUSCH form (i.e., in an UCI piggyback form).

In this case, if the SG complies with a mechanism, such as a PDCCH or EPDCCH format, a response to the SG may be easily used using a PUCCH resource connected to each DCI index of the PDCCH or EPDCCH.

In this case, if information included in the SG is separated into information for SA scheduling and information for D2D data scheduling and received by the D2D UE, the D2D UE may feed a response regarding whether each SG has been received back.

Furthermore, since the response to the SG may have a maximum of four types, the size of the response may be represented as 1 bit to 2 bits.

In this case, the response to the SG may be fed back through a PUCCH.

Hereinafter, methods for transmitting and receiving SA and/or D2D data proposed in this specification will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 37 to 41.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a D2D operation procedure proposed in this specification and an example of a signaling transmission/reception method related thereto.

FIG. 37 shows a D2D operation procedure in D2D communication Mode 1 controlled by an eNB and a method for performing D2D communication by transmitting and receiving information related thereto.

As illustrated in FIG. 37, an SA (Scheduling Assignment) resource pool 3710 and/or data resource pool 3720 related to D2D communication may be pre-configured, and the pre-configured resource pools may be transmitted from an eNB to D2D UEs via high layer signaling.

The high layer signaling may be RRC signaling.

The expression ‘A and/or B’ used herein is intended to mean at least one between A and B, that is, A alone, B alone or A and B in combination.

The SA resource pool and/or data resource pool refers to resources reserved for a D2D (UE-to-UE) link or D2D communication.

The UE-to-UE link also may be called a sidelink.

Specifically, the SA resource pool refers to a resource region for SA transmission, and the data resource pool refers to a resource region for D2D data transmission.

The SA may be transmitted in accordance with an SA periodicity 3730, and the D2D data may be transmitted in accordance with a data transmission periodicity 3740.

The SA periodicity and/or the data transmission periodicity may be transmitted from the eNB to a D2D UE by a D2D grant.

Alternatively, the SA periodicity may be transmitted by a D2D grant, and the data transmission periodicity may be transmitted by an SA.

The D2D grant refers to control information used for the eNB to transmit an SA (Scheduling Assignment) required for D2D communication to the D2D UE.

The D2D grant may be represented in DCI format 5, and carried on a physical layer channel such as PDCCH, EPDCCH, etc., or a MAC layer channel.

The D2D grant may contain information related to data transmission, as well as information related to SA transmission.

For example, the SA may include RA (Resource Allocation), MCS, NDI (New Data Indicator), RV (Redundancy Version), etc.

As stated previously, the SA resource pool for SA transmission may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

Moreover, the SA may be carried on a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel), and the D2D data may be carried on a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel).

A D2D transmission UE may receive SA information, particularly, resource allocation (RA) information for SA transmission (hereinafter, ‘SA RA’), from the eNB by a D2D grant.

In this case, the D2D transmission UE may send to a D2D reception UE the SA RA information as it is received from the eNB, or may generate new SA RA information with reference to the received SA RA information and then send the newly generated SA RA information to the D2D reception UE.

If the D2D transmission UE generates new SA RA, the D2D transmission UE has to perform SA resource allocation only within a resource region (resource pool) indicated by a D2D grant RA.

That is, only part (SA RA) of the resource region (D2D grant RA) which the eNB permits the use of may be selected for SA transmission.

On the contrary, the D2D transmission UE may use the D2D grant RA as it is assigned by the eNB.

In this case, however, the D2D transmission UE transmits dummy data even if there is no D2D data to be transmitted, or occupies D2D SFs (subframes) without D2D data transmission, which may lead to a waste of D2D SFs.

Resource pools related to D2D communication may be in the following relationship.

1. RRC configured D2D resource pool (A)

2. D2D grant RA indicating resource pool (B)

3. SA RA indicating resource pool (C)

If the relationship among the resource pools satisfies A>=B>=C, it prevents D2D SFs from being indiscriminately occupied for D2D transmission. As a result, resources for WAN data transmission may be protected.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for transmitting downlink control information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First of all, an SA resource pool and/or D2D data resource pool are configured by a high layer (S3810).

Afterwards, an eNB transmits the SA resource pool and/or D2D data resource pool to a D2D UE via high layer signaling (S3820).

Thereafter, the eNB transmits SA-related control information and/or D2D data-related control information separately or together to the D2D transmission UE by a D2D grant (S3830). The control information includes SA and/or D2D data scheduling information in the SA resource pool and/or D2D data resource pool. For example, the control information may include RA, MCS, NDI, RV, etc.

After that, the D2D transmission UE transmits SA and/or D2D data to a D2D reception UE based on the information received in the step S3830 (S3840).

The SA transmission and the D2D data transmission may be performed simultaneously, or the D2D data transmission may be performed after the SA transmission.

Next, D2D-related resource allocation using SPS (semi-persistent scheduling) will be discussed.

In this case, D2D communication-related resources (the SA resource pool and/or data resource pool) may be reserved and allocated in advance for a D2D UE via RRC signaling, as shown in FIGS. 37 and 38.

Afterwards, the D2D UE may receive from the eNB a D2D grant indicating whether the reserved and allocated D2D communication-related resources are available.

That is, the eNB may activate the use of the resources reserved and allocated for the D2D UE through (E)PDCCH, etc. or stop or release the use of the resources.

Here, the eNB may indicate the release of use of D2D communication-related resources by setting all SA RAs to ‘0’ and transmitting them to the D2D UE.

In another method, a specific value (e.g., ‘0’) may be set to the TPC and MCS fields to indicate the release of use of D2D communication-related resources if a specific condition is met by a combination of a number of fields.

In yet another method, only the MSB (Most Significant Bit) of the MCS may be set to ‘1’ and the other bits to ‘0’, as in ‘10000 . . . 0000’ to indicate the release of use of D2D communication-related resources.

Next, the activation/release of use of each resource type when SA resource information and D2D data resource information are separately transmitted will be described.

In an example, if a SA resource-related portion and a data resource-related portion are separated within a specific field, the eNB may indicate the activation and release of use of each resource type to the D2D UE.

The specific field may be the TPC field, and a description will be given by taking the TPC field as an example.

Moreover, the eNB may indicate the release of resource use from different locations by taking the SA transmission periodicity and the data transmission periodicity into account.

This method may be implemented by transmitting different types of information (SA resource information and data resource information) in different TPCs, or by allocating different bit sequences for two TPCs.

Alternatively, the release of resource use may be indicated by notifying the D2D UE of the number of the first data resource released since the release of SA resources.

Next, a method of updating SA RAs will be described.

If a D2D UE receives SA RA information from an eNB, the point in time of actual SA transmission by the D2D UE is in synchrony with the periodicity of SA transmission.

Here, the eNB transmits SA RA information to the D2D UE by a D2D grant at the point in time when the D2D UE transmits an SA. Thus, the update time for SA RA information is in phase with the SA periodicity for SA transmission.

Specifically, the minimum update interval of SA RA information may correspond with the SA periodicity.

That is, in a case where SA transmission occurs even if there is no update of SA RA information, the update interval of SA RA information and the SA periodicity may be interpreted as identical.

In contrast, the update of TPC information, which corresponds to transmission power control information, may be designed differently from the SA RA information.

If the eNB transmits TPC information to the D2D transmission UE in every SA period, the TPC information may be updated in each SA period.

However, in view of the fact that the D2D UE can transmit multiple SAs or data in between SA periods, the update interval of the TPC information should be shorter than the SA periodicity in order to perform efficiently or optimize controlling power for transmission of the SA or data.

To this end, a DCI format for transmitting TPC information only may be newly defined, the newly defined DCI format may be transmitted in between SA periods.

The newly defined DCI format contains TPC information.

For example, if the SA (transmission) periodicity is 100 ms, the TPC information periodicity may be set to 10 ms, so that the TPC information can be updated in accordance with the channel state.

In this method, however, transmitting TPC information only may lead to inefficient use of resources. Thus, the eNB may transmit to the D2D UE control information (e.g. HARQ information) that reflects the channel state, together with the TPC information.

That is, the eNB may transmit TPC, HARQ, MCS, RV, PMI, etc. more frequently at shorter intervals than the SA periods so that this information can be updated to properly reflect the channel state.

Here, the above-described methods may be interpreted in a different way.

For example, the SA periodicity may be 10 ms, the actual transmission (or update) of SA RA information may occur at 100 ms intervals, and control information (TPC, HARQ information, etc.) that reflects the channel status may be generated at 10 ms intervals (or units).

That is, once the SA periodicity is set, the SA RA update periodicity, TPC update periodicity, and HARQ update periodicity may be set to an integer multiple of the SA periodicity.

Here, the SA RA update periodicity occurs more frequently than the TPC and HARQ update periodicities.

Accordingly, the SA RA update periodicity, TPC update periodicity, and HARQ update periodicity may be preset, and may be transmitted to the D2D UE via RRC signaling.

Alternatively, the eNB may explicitly or implicitly transmit information related to the SA RA update periodicity, TPC update periodicity, HARQ update periodicity, etc. to the D2D UE by a D2D grant.

Here, the SA periodicity may be configured via RRC signaling, and the TPC periodicity and/or HARQ periodicity may be configured by a D2D grant.

Alternatively, the SA periodicity, TPC periodicity, and HARQ periodicity may be set to default. That is, all the periodicities may have the same default value.

As previously stated, the TPC information refers to information for controlling the transmission power of the D2D transmission UE.

Here, the D2D transmission UE may control the transmission power for both SA and data based on a single piece of TPC information.

Alternatively, the D2D UE controls transmission power according to the characteristics of each signal by taking the characteristics of SA and data each into account.

In this case, the eNB may transmit TPC information for SA and TPC information for data, individually, in a D2D grant, or transmit different D2D grants for different pieces of TPC information, respectively.

That is, the D2D grant may allocate the TPC information for SA and the TPC information for data to different regions.

The TPC information for SA is used to indicate the transmission power control for SA, and the TPC information for data is used to indicate the transmission power control for data.

Here, each piece of TPC information may indicate the absolute Tx power value or the transmission power value (delta Tx power) relative to the previous Tx power value.

In another method, when two TPC fields (an SA TPC field and a data TPC field) are used to control SA transmission power and data transmission power, the value of one of the TPC fields and an offset may be used to indicate the value of the other TPC field.

For example, if the first TPC field indicates the (absolute) transmission power value for SA and the second TPC field indicates the (absolute) transmission power value for data, the second TPC field is not transmitted individually, but may be obtained by using a value (offset) relative to the absolute transmission power value of the first TPC field.

That is, the first TPC field may indicate the absolute value of transmission power for SA or data, and the second TPC field may be represented by using an offset for the value of the first TPC field.

That is, this method is a method that indicates the relative difference in power between SA and data.

In this method, it is highly likely that changes in transmission power between SA and data will occur in almost the same direction. Thus, if the power value is set using an offset, the transmission power for SA and data may be controlled by using fewer bits.

In general, an SA power control parameter set and a data power control parameter set may be set independently.

That is, transmission power information for SA and D2D data are set with different parameters, so they may be transmitted with different powers.

Especially, SA is more important than D2D data. Thus, the SA transmission power may be set higher than the data transmission power, or SA may be transmitted using more resources.

Moreover, D2D data should be transmitted by taking into account HARQ operation as well as channel coding. Thus, it may be preferable that D2D data is controlled with different transmission power from SA.

However, even if SA and data are set to different transmission power values (initial values, etc.), TPC transmitted by a D2D grant may use a single value to control the transmission power for SA and data.

In this case, even if a D2D UE receives the same TPC information from the eNB, the D2D UE applies different criteria for interpretation so that the transmission power for SA and data may be calculated in different ways.

In this case, the different criteria the D2D UE uses to interpret the transmission power for SA and data for a single TPC may be preset.

For example, if the transmission power for SA can be adjusted in the range from X_SA(dB) to Y_SA(dB) in a 2 bit TPC table, the transmission power for D2D data may be set to range from X_data to Y_data.

Although only the range of transmission power adjustment indicated by the value of the TPC bit field has been described with an example, it may be also possible to calculate the final transmission power for each of different power control parameters by using different definitions, different initial values, and different default values as shown in the example.

Next, the configuration of D2D grant RA information and SA RA information will be described more specifically.

Here, the D2D grant RA may refer to information related to an SA to be used for D2D communication, especially, resource allocation information, and may be represented as a SG (Scheduling Grant) or DCI format 5.

The SA RA information may refer to resource allocation information related to actual SA transmission, and may be represented as PSCCH.

Specifically, the SA RA information may refer to a method as to how the D2D grant RA will be exploited for SA transmission when the D2D transmission UE configures (D2D-related) RA information transmitted by a D2D grant.

As previously described, assuming that there exists an RRC-configured resource pool, the eNB selects a restricted set from the original RRC-configured resource pool and transmits an RA to the D2D UE by a D2D grant.

The D2D transmission UE receives the selected D2D grant RA set from the eNB, and transmits it to a D2D reception UE as it is received or re-selects (or creates) some resources of the selected D2D grant RA set and transmits information on these resources to the D2D reception UE.

Hereinafter, a method for a D2D transmission UE to select part of an RA set received by a D2D grant and transmits the SA to a D2D reception UE through the selected resources will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 36.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for transmitting downlink control information, which is proposed in this specification.

That is, FIG. 39 explains a method in which a D2D transmission UE transmits a D2D-related packet to a D2D reception UE through resources selected by itself and receives a D2D-related packet from the D2D reception UE through resources selected by itself.

First, the D2D transmission UE receives reserved and allocated resources related to D2D communication from an eNB (S3910).

The reserved and allocated resources related to D2D communication may be an SA resource pool and/or data resource pool, and may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE selects or determines some of the reserved and allocated resources related to D2D communication that are to be used for actual transmission (S3920).

Since the D2D UE usually transmits and receives a small amount of D2D packets, the amount of resources used by it is smaller than the amount of reserved and allocated resources (or D2D grant RA) received through the eNB.

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE transmits SA and/or D2D data to the D2D transmission UE through the determined resources (S3930).

As stated above, the SA and/or D2D data may be transmitted simultaneously, or the SA may be transmitted first and then the D2D data.

Here, the D2D UE may operate in Rx mode (listens to other signals) in the resource segments not used for D2D communication, or may enter DTX (Discontinuous Transmission) state and perform energy saving or power saving operation.

By this operation, the D2D transmission UE operating in half-duplex may expand the resource regions it can receive, and therefore may receive resources from more D2D UEs.

Moreover, the D2D reception UE may monitor D2D-related resources (D2D SFs) only in particular (or restricted) SFs (subframes) and receive resources.

In addition, the D2D reception UE also may perform energy saving by performing DRX (Discontinuous reception) in the other D2D SFs without monitoring.

Likewise, the D2D reception UE may secure more resources it can transmit to other D2D UEs, thereby increasing the opportunity of D2D transmission and sending more D2D-related packets.

As shown in FIG. 39, in the method in which the D2D UE uses as many resources as the number of D2D-related packets to be actually transmitted, the D2D transmission UE and the D2D reception UE may adjust the size of resources transmitted or received by them as needed through a negotiation process for signal transmission and reception.

This can increase the efficiency of packet transmission between D2D UEs in a D2D network constructed entirely of meshes.

Here, in the process for adjusting the size of resources to be transmitted or received, signals transmitted or received between D2D UES may be implemented using a high layer signal as well as a physical layer signal.

Next, a method for a D2D transmission UE to transmit an SA to a D2D reception UE by an SA RA will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 40.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for transmitting downlink control information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 40 relates to a method in which, when there are multiple D2D data transmission resources (or opportunities) in between SA periods, a D2D transmission UE notifies a D2D reception UE of the number of D2D data transmission resources that can be used in between the SA periods.

First, as stated above, the D2D transmission UE receives SA and/or data transmission-related resource allocation information from an eNB by a D2D grant RA (S4010).

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE transmits configuration information related to the D2D data transmission resources to the D2D reception UE by an SA (S4020).

Hereinafter, the configuration information related to the D2D data transmission resources will be described more specifically.

The configuration information related to the D2D data transmission resources includes indication information that indicates D2D SFs (or D2D data SFs) in which D2D data can be carried.

The indication information may indicate the number of contiguous D2D SFs or indicate an integer multiple of D2D SFs.

If the indication information indicates contiguous D2D SFs, the D2D transmission UE transmits D2D data to the D2D reception UE in contiguous K SFs immediately subsequent to an SA period (S4030).

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE stops the transmission of D2D data after the contiguous K SFs (S4040).

Offset information may be used as another way to transmit D2D data.

That is, the D2D transmission UE transmits D2D data to the D2D reception UE in contiguous K D2D SFs, starting from the SF which is at an offset from an SA period, rather than the SF immediately next to the SA period, based on the offset information related to D2D data transmission, and then may stop the transmission of D2D data in the subsequent SFs.

If the offset value is too large to secure contiguous D2D SFs within the SA period, the D2D data transmission in the non-secured SFs may be neglected or negated.

Alternatively, the D2D data transmission in the non-secured SFs may be passed to the next SA period, and as many SFs as those not secured, starting from the first SF in the next SA period, may be designated as SFs for D2D data transmission.

Here, it is preferable that indication information (or indication bits) for indicating D2D SFs for D2D data transmission is set by taking into account SA and data resource allocation periods.

For example, if the SA periodicity is 100 ms at maximum and the data transmission periodicity is 10 ms, there are 10 opportunities for data transmission in between the SA periods.

The number of all cases (combinations) as to how many contiguous SFs out of 10 SFs can be contiguously designated should be taken into account, and the indication information requires a field with as many bits as required to support all the combinations.

For example, if an indication is require for 8 cases, the indication information may have a size of 3 bits, and if an indication is required for 10 cases, the indication information may have a size of 4 bits.

The start position and length of an SF related to D2D data transmission may be indicated as another method to indicate a D2D data SF. This method may be implemented by using the UL RA method of LTE(-A).

With the above method of indicating the starting position and length of an SF related to D2D data transmission, the efficiency of resource use may be enhanced since the number of bits of indication information can be reduced.

Next, the use of indication information indicating the position of a D2D data SF in case of an increase of the SA periodicity will be described.

Specifically, if the SA periodicity increases, this may be overcome by repeatedly transmitting indication information indicating the position of a D2D data SF.

For example, if the SA periodicity increases to 400 ms, 4-bit indication information for an SA periodicity of 100 ms and a data transmission periodicity of 10 ms may be re-used four times repeatedly.

Here, the eNB may notify the D2D UE of the position of the D2D data SF while adjusting the number of repetitions of the indication information.

The number of repetitions of a signal used for adjustment of the number of repetitions and or of indication information indicative of the position of the D2D data SF may be predetermined.

In this case, the predetermined value may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

A bitmap pattern may be used as indication information indicative of the position of a D2D data SF.

If the indication information is a bitmap pattern, the D2D data SF may be designated very flexibly.

For example, assuming that the SA periodicity is 100 ms and the data transmission periodicity is 10 ms, 10-bit indication information is needed to indicate all combinations of 10 data transmission periods, as stated above.

If the SA periodicity is 400 ms and the data periodicity is 40 ms, 10-bit indication information with a bitmap pattern is needed. If the data periodicity is 10 ms, 40-bit bitmapped indication information is needed.

However, varying the length of indication information in accordance with the SA and/or data periodicity is difficult in the design of control information.

Accordingly, it is preferable that the size of indication information, that is, the length of a bitmap, is fixed.

To this end, an SA periodicity and data transmission periodicity that can be used as reference are selected, and the size of indication information, that is, the length of a bitmap, is determined in accordance with the selected SA periodicity and data transmission periodicity.

Here, if the number of cases for indicating the position of the D2D data SF increases due to a change in the SA periodicity and data transmission periodicity, the reference bitmapped indication information (reference bitmap) may be repeatedly used.

On the contrary, if the number of cases for indicating the position of the D2D data SF decreases, some of the combinations may be truncated.

For example, if the SA periodicity is 400 ms and the data transmission periodicity is 10 ms, the bitmapped indication information used with the SA periodicity of 100 ms and the data transmission periodicity of 10 ms may be used 4 times repeatedly, thereby indicating the position of the D2D data SF in accordance with the SA periodicity of 400 ms.

The bitmapped indication information used with the SA periodicity of 100 ms and the data transmission periodicity of 10 ms may be referred to as reference indication information or a reference bitmap.

If the SA periodicity is 400 ms and the data transmission periodicity is 20 ms, there are 20 opportunities for data transmission at 400 ms. Thus, 10 bits of the reference bitmap may be repeatedly used two times, thereby indicating the position of the D2D data SF.

On the other hand, if the SA periodicity decreases to 50 ms and the data transmission periodicity is 10 ms, only the highest 5 bits of the 10-bit bitmap indicating the D2D data SF are used (as valid information), and the lowest 5 bits may be neglected or negated.

On the contrary to this, only the lowest 5 bits of the 10-bit bitmap indicating the D2D data SF may be used as valid information, and the highest 5 bits may be neglected or negated.

Next, a method for reducing the number of bits of indication information indicative of the position of a D2D data SF (or a bitmap indicative of a D2D data SF) will be described concretely with reference to FIG. 38.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for transmitting downlink control information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An eNB transmits a pre-defined (D2D) subframe pattern set to a D2D transmission UE by a D2D grant RA (S4110).

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE selects one or more from the received subframe pattern set (S4120).

Specifically, if the eNB transmits 8 resource patterns (or subframe patterns) out of an RRC-configured D2D resource pool to the D2D transmission UE by a D2D grant RA, the D2D transmission UE selects one or more from the received 8 resource patterns and transmits SA and/or data through the selected resources.

Here, a 3-bit field or 3-bit indication information is defined in order to represent the 8 resource patterns.

That is, the eNB may notify the D2D transmission UE of information about the resource patterns by transmitting 3-bit indication information.

Here, the number of SFs for data transmission in between SA periods may be variously selected and used by configuring the subframe patterns in various ways (e.g., K contiguous initial subframes, an offset, interlaced SF patterns, etc.).

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE transmits SA and/or data to the D2D reception UE using the selected subframe pattern(s) (S4130).

In another embodiment, D2D-related resource patterns (or subframe patterns) may be hierarchically configured and transmitted to a D2D UE.

For example, the resource patterns may be hierarchically configured such that the RRC-configured resource pool exists in the highest layer, multiple resource patterns exist in a tree-shaped structure in the second highest layer, and more types of resource patterns exist in a tree-shaped structure in the third highest layer.

In this case, the eNB selects one or more from the 2nd layer resource patterns by using RRC-configured 1st layer information and transmits the selected resource pattern(s) to the D2D transmission UE by a D2D grant.

Afterwards, the D2D transmission UE selects one from the 3rd layer resource patterns underlying the received 2nd layer resource patterns and transmits SA and/or data to a D2D reception UE.

Such a hierarchical (tree-shaped) structure of D2D resources and a method of interpreting the same should be shared among the eNB and D2D UEs.

Next, the SA update time will be discussed.

As stated previously, upon receiving a D2D grant from the eNB, the D2D transmission UE transmits an SA to the D2D reception UE in accordance with the SA periodicity by referring to the received D2D grant.

If the D2D transmission UE receives information related to a new SA from the eNB in between SA periods, the existing SA information is valid until the next SA period arrives.

That is, the D2D transmission UE updates the SA in the next SA transmission period. Then, the D2D transmission UE transmits the updated SA to the D2D reception UE in the corresponding SA transmission period.

In this way, the method of updating new control information in the next period may apply equally to TPC information, etc.

The above-described update method involves the activation of D2D resources.

However, the release of D2D resources may be configured differently from the above-described activation of D2D resources.

That is, the D2D transmission UE releases D2D resources immediately upon reception of release-related information from the eNB.

Accordingly, the D2D transmission UE stops the transmission of SA and/or data in the resources that are indicated to be released.

Specifically, when the D2D transmission UE receives information indicative of the release of D2D resources from the eNB in between SA periods, the D2D transmission UE releases D2D resources immediately without waiting for the next SA period to arrive.

Alternatively, in a case where the SA periodicity is configured and the SA update periodicity is configured to be longer than the configured SA periodicity, the following D2D operation may be performed.

That is, if the SA update periodicity and the SA periodicity are configured differently and the SA update periodicity is longer, the activation of D2D resources may be configured for each SA update period, and the release of D2D resources may be configured for each SA transmission, that is, for each SA period.

D2D Format for D2D Scheduling Hereinafter, the present invention proposes a method of configuring the DCI format of a D2D grant (or sidelink grant).

In other words, the present invention proposes a method of configuring the DCI format of a D2D grant when Mode 1 (i.e., scheduling of resources used for an eNB to transmit data for D2D direct communication or control information) is used, out of the above-explained resource allocation methods for D2D direct communication.

As for Mode 1, again, the eNB configures resource pools required for D2D direct communication. Here, the resource pools required for D2D communication may be divided into a control information pool and a D2D data pool. When the eNB schedules control information and D2D data transmission resources within the resource pools configured for a D2D Tx UE by using a PDCCH or ePDCCH, the D2D Tx UE transmits control information and D2D data using allocated resources.

The D2D Tx UE sends the eNB a request for D2D data transmission resources, and the eNB schedules resources for transmission of control information and D2D direct communication data. The transmission UE transmits a scheduling request (SR) to the eNB, and then a BSR (Buffer Status Report) procedure is performed so that the eNB determines the amount of resources requested by the transmission UE.

D2D Rx UEs monitor the control information pool, and may selectively decode D2D data transmission related to the corresponding control information by decoding control information related to them

As described above, a D2D grant serves to deliver control information such as resource allocation, MCS, etc.,—scheduling information—required for the D2D Tx UE to transmit SA and data.

As described above, the D2D control information the D2D Tx UE transmits to the D2D Rx UE may be represented as sidelink control information (SCI). Also, the SCI may be transmitted and received through a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel). Accordingly, in this specification, SA (Scheduling Assignment) may be used interchangeably with SCI and/or PSCCH.

Likewise, D2D data may be transmitted and received through a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel). Accordingly, in this specification, D2D data may be used interchangeably with PSSCH.

The DCI format for a D2D grant proposed in this specification may be used for PSCCH scheduling and PSSCH scheduling.

Also, since the D2D Tx UE and the D2D Rx UE may use an SCI for PSSCH scheduling, the DCI format for a D2D grant proposed in the present invention is used for PSCCH scheduling, and may include the SCI's field information.

As such, the DCI format for a D2D grant involves scheduling both SA transmission (i.e., PSCCH) and data transmission (i.e., PSSCH). This requires a large amount of control information, making it difficult to configure it in a single DCI format.

However, configuring it in two DCI formats, as opposed to what has been stated above, causes a huge signaling burden. In other words, two DCI formats as shown previously in FIG. 7 may be needed to transmit scheduling information about both SA and data. That is, different DCI formats may be needed to carry both SA and data scheduling information.

As a compromise, the present invention proposes a method of scheduling both SA and data in a single DCI format (e.g., DCI format 5) by configuring fields in a proper way.

To integrate these formats into one, interrelated fields may be replaced by a single integrated field and non-interrelated fields may be configured as discrete fields, in the process of observing the characteristic of D2D transmission and controlling SA transmission and data transmission.

Hereinafter, the drawings in this specification illustrate the bit length of each field in the DCI format for a D2D grant assuming that an uplink band (or carrier, cell, etc.) at which D2D SA and data are transmitted is 20 MHz. Accordingly, the bit length of each field in the DCI format for a D2D grant may differ if the uplink band has a bandwidth other than 20 Hz.

Also, the bit length of each field illustrated in the drawings in this specification is merely an illustration for convenience of explanation, and the present invention is not limited thereto. Accordingly, the bit length of each field may be defined differently as necessary.

Although the DCI format for a D2D grant (or sidelink grant) involves scheduling information for both SA and data, as described above, the resource assignment/allocation (RA) field (or information) for SA and the RA field (or information) for data may be configured separately. This will be described below with reference to FIGS. 42 and 43.

FIG. 42 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 42, the DCI format for a D2D grant may includes a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4201, a resource allocation (RA) field 4202 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4203 for D2D data, a second RA field 4204 for D2D data, a TPC field 4205, and zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4206 (if any).

The FH field 4201 indicates whether frequency hopping is applicable in SA and data transmissions. The FH field 4201 may apply commonly to SA transmission and data transmission, so it may consist of a single field.

For example, if the FH field 4201 has a value of ‘1’, the D2D Tx UE performs frequency hopping transmission during SA and data transmissions, and if the FH field 4201 has a value of ‘0’, the D2D Tx UE does not perform frequency hopping transmission during SA and data transmissions.

The SA RA field 4202 (or PSCCH RA field, resource field for PSCCH) indicates resources information for SA transmission. That is, it indicates scheduling information (i.e., resource information) for PSCCH transmission. Accordingly, the D2D Tx UE transmits SA (i.e., PSCCH) in the resources indicated by the SA RA field 4202.

Here, the SA RA field 4202 may include information (or indices) for deriving the positions of time and/or frequency resource regions for SA transmission.

For example, the SA RA field 4202 may indicate the starting position (i.e., index) in resources for SA transmission. In other words, the SA RA field 4202 may indicate the starting indices of subframes and/or resource blocks in which SA is transmitted.

Moreover, the D2D Tx UE may derive time resources (for example, subframe indices) and/or frequency resources (for example, resource block indices) for SA transmission by using a predetermined function (equation) based on the information included in the SA RA field 4202.

Resource allocation information for D2D data transmission may comprise a D2D data first RA field 4203 (or first PSSCH RA field, resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation field) and a D2D data second RA field 4204 (or second PSSCH RA field, time resource pattern field).

The D2D data first RA field 4203 indicates resource information (e.g., resource blocks) for D2D data transmission in the frequency domain. That is, it indicates scheduling information for PSSCH transmission in the frequency domain. Accordingly, the D2D Tx UE transmits D2D data (i.e., PSSCH) in the frequency resources indicated by the D2D data first RA field 4203.

For example, the D2D data first RA field 4203 may indicate the starting position (i.e., starting resource block index) in resource blocks for D2D data transmission and a length in terms of allocated resource blocks, by using RIV only, as in the UL RA method.

Moreover, the D2D data first RA field 4203 may indicate the starting position (i.e., starting resource block index) and last position (i.e., last resource block index) in resource blocks for D2D data transmission, separately by different fields (or information). In this case, more bits (e.g., 1 bit) may be required.

The D2D data second RA field 4204 indicates resource information (e.g., subframes) used for D2D data transmission in the time domain. That is, it indicates scheduling information for PSSCH transmission in the time domain. Accordingly, the D2D Tx UE transmits D2D data (i.e., PSSCH) in the time resources indicated by the D2D data second RA field 4204.

For example, the D2D data second RA field 4204 may indicate a subframe pattern (i.e., time resource pattern) to be used for D2D data transmission. That is, the D2D data second RA field 4204 may include information indicating a time resource pattern used for PSCCH transmission.

Here, the D2D data second RA field 4204 may indicate any one of a plurality of predetermined time resource patterns. For example, n subframes patterns (represented by a bitmap) are defined in advance as an SF pattern #0(10001010), SF pattern #1(00111001), . . . , SF pattern # n(10011001), and this field may indicate any one of the n defined subframe patterns. Here, the value ‘1’ of the bitmap may mean that D2D data is transmitted in the corresponding subframe, and the value ‘0’ of the bitmap may mean that D2D data is not transmitted in the corresponding subframe. Also, these values may mean the opposite.

The TPC field 4205 indicates the transmission power for SA and data transmission by the D2D Tx UE. That is, it indicates transmission power information for PSCCH and PSSCH.

As shown in FIG. 42, the TPC field 4205 may consist of a single field. If the TPC field 4205 consists of a single field, the value of the TPC field 4205 applies commonly to the transmission power for SA and data transmissions.

The ZP 4206 may be filled with control information, or not be used, or not exist as necessary. That is, it may be omitted if not necessary.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

As compared to the above DCI format 0 of FIG. 7, the DCI format for a D2D grant illustrated in FIG. 39 does not include the MCS field.

If the eNB notifies the D2D Tx UE of the MCS value, it is necessary that the MCS field exists in the DCI format for a D2D grant. However, the MCS value needs to be set by the D2D Tx UE itself, or needs to be provided via high layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) or set to a fixed value. Accordingly, the MCS field may not be included as in FIG. 42.

Moreover, the DCI format for a D2D grant illustrated in FIG. 42 neither includes the NDI field nor the RV field. The NDI and RV values may be set by the D2D Tx UE itself, or provided via high layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) or set to a fixed value, as is with the MCS value.

Meanwhile, the TPC field may be configured for SA and data transmissions separately. This will be described below with reference to FIG. 43.

FIG. 43 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 43, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4301, a resource allocation (RA) field 4302 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4303 for D2D data, a second RA field 4304 for D2D data, TPC fields 4305 and 4306, and zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4307 (if any).

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 43, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 42, except for the TPC fields 4305 and 4306. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 42 will be described.

It may be preferable that TPC applies differently to SA and data. Thus, the DCI format may consist of two TPC fields 4305 and 4306, as shown in FIG. 43. That is, the DCI format may comprise a first TPC field (TPC 1) 4305 indicating the transmission power for PSCCH and a second TPC field (TPC 2) 4306 indicating the transmission power for PSSCH.

Here, either of the TPC field indicating the transmission power for PSCCH and the TPC field indicating the transmission power for PSSCH may come first. That is, the TPC field 4305 that comes first may indicate the transmission power for SA transmission, and the TPC field 4306 that comes later may indicate the transmission power for data transmission, or vice versa.

In this case, the TPC fields 4305 and 4306 may include their own TPC information, or one of the TPC fields 4305 and 4306 may include TPC information and the other TPC field may include the corresponding offset TPC information.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, the DCI format for a D2D grant may have additional information such as the D2D Rx UE ID because of the D2D characteristics. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 44 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 44, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4401, a resource allocation (RA) field 4402 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4403 for D2D data, a second RA field 4404 for D2D data, a TPC field 4405, zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4406 (if any), and an Rx_ID field 4407.

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 44, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 42, except that the Rx_ID field 4407 is added. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 42 will be described.

The D2D Tx UE may transmit D2D data in a unicast or multicast fashion. In this case, information for identifying a target UE or a target UE group is needed.

Accordingly, the Rx_ID field 4407 is used to designate a target UE or a target UE group. That is, the Rx_ID field 4407 includes identification information (i.e., target UE ID) for identifying the target UE or identification information (i.e., target group ID) for identifying the target UE group.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, the DCI format for a D2D grant may further include MCS information. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 45, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4501, a resource allocation (RA) field 4502 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4503 for D2D data, a second RA field 4504 for D2D data, a TPC field 4505, zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4506 (if any), an MCS field 4507, and an Rx_ID field 4508.

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 45, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 42, except that the MCS field 4507 and the Rx_ID field 4508 are added. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 42 will be described.

The MCS field 4507 includes MCS information for D2D SA and/or data transmission (or an index for indicating an MCS value). That is, it indicates MCS information for PSCCH and/or PSSCH.

MCS information determined by the eNB may be included in the DCI format on the assumption that the eNB knows better about a D2D link (i.e., sidelink) than the D2D Tx UE. For example, the eNB may estimate the D2D link's channel status based on a buffer status report BSR received from the D2D Tx UE, and determine the MCS of SA and/or data the D2D Tx UE will transmit.

The MCS field 4507's information may be used for SA and/or data transmission from the D2D Tx UE to the D2D Rx UE. For example, the MCS field 4507's information may be used equally for both SA transmission and data transmission. Also, the MCS for SA transmission may be set to a fixed value, and the MCS for data transmission may be determined based on the information indicated by the MCS field 4507.

The Rx_ID field 4508 is used to designate a target UE or a target UE group. That is, the Rx_ID field 4508 includes identification information (i.e., target UE ID) for identifying the target UE or identification information (i.e., target group ID) for identifying the target UE group.

Although FIG. 45 illustrates that the TPC field 4505 consists of one field, it may be divided into a TPC field for SA and a TPC field for data and included in the DCI format, as illustrated previously in FIG. 43.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, the DCI format for a D2D grant may indicate an SA resource region in a different way. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 46, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4601, a resource allocation (RA) field 4602 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4603 for D2D data, a second RA field 4604 for D2D data, an Rx_ID field 4605, a TPC field 4606, and zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4607 (if any).

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 46, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 42, except that the Rx_ID field 4607 is added and the length of the resource allocation (RA) field 4602 is adjusted to be shorter. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 42 will be described.

In the resource allocation (RA) field 4602 for SA, an SA resource region is not directly designated, but an indicator for indicating a subframe pattern selected from a pre-designated subframe pattern set may be included. That is, it may include information indicating a time resource (e.g., subframe) pattern used for PSCCH transmission.

For example, n subframes patterns (represented by a bitmap) are defined in advance as an SF pattern #0(10001010), SF pattern #1(00111001), . . . , SF pattern # n(10011001), and this field may indicate any one of the n defined subframe patterns. Here, the value ‘1’ of the bitmap may mean that SA is transmitted in the corresponding subframe, and the value ‘0’ of the bitmap may mean that SA is not transmitted in the corresponding subframe. Also, these values may mean the opposite.

FIG. 46 illustrates that one subframe pattern is selected from a maximum of 8 subframe patterns. In this case, the resource allocation (RA) field for SA may consist of 3 bits. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the number of bits in the resource allocation (RA) field 4602 for SA may be determined depending on the total number of subframe patterns.

In this case, the D2D Tx UE determines frequency resources (e.g., resource blocks) for SA transmission randomly or according to a predetermined rule, in a subframe corresponding to a subframe pattern indicated by the resource allocation (RA) field 4602. Also, SA is transmitted in the determined frequency resources (e.g., resource blocks).

The D2D Rx UE may monitor all the resource blocks for the subframe corresponding to the subframe pattern indicated by the resource allocation (RA) field 4602 and receive SA. Also, the D2D Rx UE may monitor frequency resources (e.g., resource blocks) determined by the predetermined rule and receive SA.

The Rx_ID field 4605 is used to designate a target UE or a target UE group. That is, the Rx_ID field 4605 includes identification information (i.e., target UE ID) for identifying the target UE or identification information (i.e., target group ID) for identifying the target UE group.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, an MCS field may be added to the DCI format illustrated in FIG. 46. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 47 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 47, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4701, a resource allocation (RA) field 4702 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4703 for D2D data, a second RA field 4704 for D2D data, an MCS field 4705, a TPC field 4706, zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4707 (if any), and an Rx_ID field 4708.

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 47, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 46, except that the MCS field 4705 is added. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 46 will be described.

As explained previously, the eNB may estimate the D2D link's channel status based on a BSR received from the D2D Tx UE, and determine the MCS of SA and/or data the D2D Tx UE will transmit.

The MCS field 4705's information may be used for SA and/or data transmission from the D2D Tx UE to the D2D Rx UE. For example, the MCS for SA transmission may be set to a fixed value, and the MCS for data transmission may be determined based on the information indicated by the MCS field 4705.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, the DCI format for a D2D grant may further include DMRS (demodulation reference signal) CS (cyclic shift) information. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 48 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 48, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4801, a resource allocation (RA) field 4802 for D2D SA, a first RA field 4803 for D2D data, a second RA field 4804 for D2D data, an MCS field 4805, a TPC field 4806, zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4807 (if any), a DMRS CS field 4808, and an Rx_ID field 4809.

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 48, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 47, except that the DMRS CS field 4808 is added. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 47 will be described.

The DMRS CS field 4808 includes DMRS CS information for SA and/or demodulation. That is, the DMRS CS field 4808 may include a CS value (or an index for indicating it) for identifying a DMRS. Also, the DMRS CS field 4903 may include orthogonal cover code (OCC) information, along with the CS value, or may include an index for indicating it.

DMRS refers to a signal for demodulating SA and/or data transmitted by the D2D Tx UE. A cyclically shifted DMRS sequence may be generated by cyclically shifting a base sequence by the CS value indicated by the DMRS CS field 4808. Also, DMRS may be mapped and transmitted on the same resource region (e.g., resource blocks) where SA and/or data is transmitted.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Meanwhile, the foregoing FIGS. 42 through 48 illustrate that the RA field for SA and the RA field for data are configured separately and the information included in the respective RA fields indicates resources for SA and resources for data, respectively.

It should be noted that the RA information for SA transmission and the RA information for data may correlate to each other.

Assuming that the RA field for SA is ‘RA 1’ and the RA fields for data (the first RA field for D2D data and/or second RA field for D2D data as shown in FIGS. 42 through 48) are ‘RA 2’, transmission may occur in such a manner that RA 1 indicates the position of a SA resource region and information obtained by a combination of RA 1 and RA 2 indicates the position of a data resource region.

That is, the correlation between the SA and data resource regions may be taken into account and used for RA field configuration to configure indication bits in such a manner as to involve the correlation between the RA field information.

In this case, the D2D Tx UE may determine the SA resource region based on the information included in the RA 1 field and determine the data resource region based on the information obtained by the combination of the RA 1 field and the RA 2 field.

On the contrary, transmission may occur in such a manner that RA 2 indicates the position of a data resource region and information obtained by a combination of RA 1 and RA 2 indicates the position of a SA resource region.

In this case, the D2D Tx UE may determine the data resource region based on the information included in the RA 2 field and determine the SA resource region based on the information obtained by the combination of the RA 1 field and the RA 2 field.

More specifically, for example, the RA 2 field may indicate the resource regions (positions of time/frequency resources for data transmission) to be actually transmitted, and the RA 1 field may indicate the positions of resources for SA transmission, which are at a certain offset from the positions of time/frequency resources in the RA 2 field, that is, offset information. Contrariwise, the RA 1 field may indicate the positions of resource regions for SA transmission, and the RA 2 field may indicate the positions of resources for data transmission, which are at a certain offset from the positions of resources in the RA 1 field, that is, offset information.

Meanwhile, the RA field for D2D SA transmission may be omitted from the DCI format for a D2D grant. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 49 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 49, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 4901, an MCS field 4902, a DMRS CS field 4903, a first RA field 4904 for D2D data, a second RA field 4905 for D2D data, a TPC field 4906, and zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 4907 (if any).

The FH field 4901 indicates whether frequency hopping is applicable in SA and data transmission. The FH field 4901 may apply commonly to SA transmission and data transmission, so it may consist of a single field.

The MCS field 4902 includes an MCS value for D2D SA and/or data transmission (or an index for indicating the MCS value).

The MCS field 4902's information may be used for SA and/or data transmission from the D2D Tx UE to the D2D Rx UE. For example, the MCS field 4902's information may be used equally for both SA transmission and data transmission. Also, the MCS for SA transmission may be set to a fixed value, and the MCS for data transmission may be determined based on the information indicated by the MCS field 4902.

The DMRS CS field 4903 may include a CS value (or an index for indicating it) for identifying a DMRS. Also, the DMRS CS field 4903 may include orthogonal cover code (OCC) information, along with the CS value, or may include an index for indicating it.

A cyclically shifted DMRS sequence may be generated by cyclically shifting a base sequence by the CS value indicated by the DMRS CS field 4903. Also, DMRS may be mapped and transmitted on the same resource region (e.g., resource blocks) where SA and/or data is transmitted.

Resource allocation information for D2D data transmission may comprise a D2D data first RA field 4904 (or first PSSCH RA field, resource block assignment and hopping resource allocation field) and a D2D data second RA field 4905 (or second PSSCH RA field, time resource pattern field).

The D2D data first RA field 4904 indicates resource information (e.g., resource blocks) for D2D data transmission in the frequency domain. That is, it indicates scheduling information for PSSCH transmission in the frequency domain. Accordingly, the D2D Tx UE transmits D2D data (i.e., PSSCH) in the frequency resources indicated by the D2D data first RA field 4904.

For example, the D2D data first RA field 4904 may indicate the starting position (i.e., starting resource block index) in resource blocks for D2D data transmission and a length in terms of allocated resource blocks, by using RIV only, as in the UL RA method.

Moreover, the D2D data first RA field 4904 may indicate the starting position (i.e., starting resource block index) and last position (i.e., last resource block index) in resource blocks for D2D data transmission, separately by different fields.

The D2D data second RA field 4905 indicates resource information (e.g., subframes) used for D2D data transmission in the time domain. That is, it indicates scheduling information for PSSCH transmission in the time domain. Accordingly, the D2D Tx UE transmits D2D data (i.e., PSSCH) in the time resources indicated by the D2D data second RA field 4905.

For example, the D2D data second RA field 4905 may indicate a subframe pattern (i.e., time resource pattern) to be used for D2D data transmission. That is, it may indicate any one of a plurality of predetermined time resource patterns.

The time/frequency resource regions for SA transmission may not be configured. That is, the D2D Tx UE may randomly select resources from an SA resource pool configured via high layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) and transmit SA. In this case, the D2D Rx UE may monitor the entire SA resource pool and receive SA from the D2D Tx UE.

Moreover, the positions of time/frequency resource regions for SA transmission may be derived from the time/frequency resources for data transmission. For example, the positions of time/frequency resource regions for SA transmission may be derived from the time/frequency resources for data transmission according to a predetermined rule or by using predetermined offset values.

The TPC field 4906 indicates the transmission power for SA and data transmissions by the D2D Tx UE.

The ZP 4907 may be filled with control information, not be used, or not exist as necessary. That is, it may be omitted if not necessary.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating a downlink control information format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 50, the DCI format for a D2D grant may consist of a frequency hopping flag (FH) field 5001, an MCS field 5002, a DMRS CS field 5003, a first RA field 5004 for D2D data, a second RA field 5005 for D2D data, a TPC field 5006, zero padding (ZP) bit(s) 5007 (if any), and an Rx_ID field 5008.

As for the DCI format for a D2D grant as shown in FIG. 50, the fields may be defined the same as what is illustrated previously in FIG. 49, except that the Rx_ID field 5008 is added. Now, only the differences with the illustration of FIG. 49 will be described.

The Rx_ID field 5008 is used to designate a target UE or a target UE group. That is, the Rx_ID field 5008 includes identification information (i.e., target UE ID) for identifying the target UE or identification information (i.e., target group ID) for identifying the target UE group.

The sequence of the fields of the DCI format and the number of bits of each field illustrated above are only an illustration for convenience of explanation, and may be changed.

Devices in General to which the Present Invention is Applicable

FIG. 51 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 51, a wireless communication system includes an eNB 5110 and a plurality of UEs 5120 located within the eNB 5110's coverage.

The eNB 5110 includes a processor 5111, a memory 5112, and an RF unit (radio frequency unit) 5113. The processor 5111 implements the functions, processes and/or methods proposed previously with reference to FIGS. 1 through 50. Layers of a radio interface protocol may be implemented by the processor 5111. The memory 5112 is connected to the processor 5111 and stores various information for driving the processor 5111. The RF unit 5113 is connected to the processor 5111 and transmits and/or receives radio signals.

The UEs 5120 each include a processor 5121, a memory 5122, and an RF unit 5123. The processor 5121 implements the functions, processes and/or methods proposed previously through FIGS. 1 through 50. Layers of a radio interface protocol may be implemented by the processor 5121. The memory 5122 is connected to the processor 5121 and stores various information for driving the processor 5121. The RF unit 5123 is connected to the processor 5121 and transmits and/or receives radio signals.

The memories 5112 and 5122 may be located inside or outside the processors 5111 and 5121, and connected to the processors 5111 and 5121 by various well-known means. Also, the eNB 5110 and/or the UEs 5120 each may have a single antenna or multiple antennas.

In the aforementioned embodiments, the elements and characteristics of the present invention have been combined in specific forms. Each of the elements or characteristics may be considered to be optional unless otherwise described explicitly. Each of the elements or characteristics may be implemented in such a way as not to be combined with other elements or characteristics. Furthermore, some of the elements and/or the characteristics may be combined to form an embodiment of the present invention. Order of operations described in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be changed. Some of the elements or characteristics of an embodiment may be included in another embodiment or may be replaced with corresponding elements or characteristics of another embodiment. It is evident that in the claims, one or more embodiments may be constructed by combining claims not having an explicit citation relation or may be included as one or more new claims by amendments after filing an application.

An embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by various means, for example, hardware, firmware, software or a combination of them. In the case of implementations by hardware, an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented using one or more Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers and or microprocessors or all of them.

In the case of implementations by firmware or software, an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a module, procedure, or function for performing the aforementioned functions or operations. Software code may be stored in the memory and driven by the processor. The memory may be placed inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor through a variety of known means.

It is evident to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be materialized in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Accordingly, the detailed description should not be construed as being limitative from all aspects, but should be construed as being illustrative. The scope of the present invention should be determined by reasonable analysis of the attached claims, and all changes within the equivalent range of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

While a method for transmitting control information in D2D communication in a wireless communication system according to the present invention has been described with an example applicable to 3GPP LTE/LTE-A systems, it also may be applicable to a variety of wireless communication systems. 

What is claimed:
 1. A method for receiving, by a user equipment (UE), downlink control information (DCI) in a wireless communication system supporting device-to-device (D2D) communication, the method comprising: receiving, from an evolved NodeB (eNB), configuration information including: (i) a first parameter, for determining a D2D scheduling assignment (SA) transmission power for a D2D SA transmission, and (ii) a second parameter for determining a D2D data transmission power for a D2D data transmission, wherein the first parameter and the second parameter indicate different parameters for calculating the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power, receiving, from the eNB, the DCI for the D2D communication, wherein the DCI comprises: a first resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for a D2D SA, a second RA field including scheduling information for a D2D data in a frequency domain, a third RA field including scheduling information for the D2D data in a time domain, and a single transmission power control (TPC) field for controlling transmission power for the D2D SA and the D2D data; calculating the D2D SA transmission power based on a range of values in a 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field and the first parameter; calculating the D2D data transmission power based on the range of values in the 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field and the second parameter; transmitting, to another UE, the D2D SA based on the D2D SA transmission power; and transmitting, to the another UE, the D2D data based on the D2D data transmission power, wherein the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power are each determined independently of each other, and wherein each of the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power is calculated to be within the range of values in the 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field, the range of values interpreted by the UE to be of different units.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first RA field includes index information for deriving the positions of resource regions for the D2D SA transmission.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second RA field includes a resource indication value (RIV) information for a starting resource block index for the D2D data transmission and a length in terms of allocated resource blocks.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the third RA field includes information indicating related to a time resource pattern used for the D2D data transmission.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further comprises an RX_ID field including identification information for the another UE.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further comprises an MCS field indicating Modulation Coding and Scheme (MCS) information for the D2D SA transmission and the D2D data transmission.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first RA field includes information related to a time resource pattern used for the D2D SA transmission.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further comprises a demodulation reference signal cyclic shift (DMRS CS) field including DMRS CS information for demodulating the D2D SA and the D2D data.
 9. A user equipment (UE) for receiving downlink control information (DCI) in a wireless communication system supporting device-to-device (D2D) communication, the UE comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, operatively coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to control the transceiver to: receive, from an evolved NodeB (eNB), configuration information including: (i) a first parameter for determining a D2D scheduling assignment (SA) transmission power for a D2D SA transmission, and (ii) a second parameter for determining a D2D data transmission power for a D2D data transmission, wherein the first parameter and the second parameter indicate different parameters for calculating the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power, receive, from the eNB, the DCI for the D2D communication, wherein the DO comprises: a first resource allocation (RA) field including scheduling information for a D2D SA, a second RA field including scheduling information for a D2D data in a frequency domain, a third RA field including scheduling information for the D2D data in a time domain, and a single transmission power control (TPC) field for controlling transmission power for the D2D SA and the D2D data; calculate the D2D SA transmission power SA based on a range of values in a 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field and the first parameter; calculate the D2D data transmission power based on the range of values in the 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field and the second parameter; control the transceiver to transmit the D2D SA to another UE based on the D2D SA transmission power; and control the transceiver to transmit the D2D data to the another UE based on the D2D data transmission power, wherein the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power are each determined independently of each other, and wherein each of the D2D SA transmission power and the D2D data transmission power is calculated to be within the range of values in the 2-bit TPC table in the single TPC field, the range of values interpreted by the UE to be of different units. 